[Live] Health situation deteriorates in Gaza, Israeli soldier succumbs to infection

Daily life in Gaza is getting tougher on Thursday, December 28. Many hospitals are no longer functioning, famine is spreading, and access to clean water is not possible in some localities. Diseases are also on the rise and even Israeli soldiers are exposed to them. On Wednesday, 27 December, one of them, wounded in combat and infected with a fungus found in Gaza's sewage, died.

If a fungus is making soldiers sick in Gaza, it must also be making Palestinians sick, for whom access to health care has become very difficult, if not impossible. (Illustrative image) AP - Leo Correa

By: Internet Editorial Board

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Key takeaways:

■ Strikes on central Gaza raise fears of an expansion of the conflict.

■ An Israeli soldier died of an infection linked to contact with sewage in Gaza. A dozen other soldiers are said to be suffering from the same infection, and it is likely that the Palestinian population will also be confronted with it, while the health situation is more difficult than ever.

■ Hamas' Health Ministry announces a new death toll of 21,110 since the start of the war on October 7, and more than 55,243 wounded. 1,140 people were killed in the October 7 Hamas attack, according to data provided by the Israeli government. The Israeli military claimed on Thursday to have killed more than 2,000Palestinian fighters since the truce ended in early December.

Information given in Universal Time (Paris+1)

05:40 a.m.: Strikes on central Gaza raise fears of 'expansion' of conflict

The Israeli army is concentrating its operations on the central Gaza Strip on Thursday (December 28th) despite a critical situation for civilians, calls for a ceasefire and a possible "expansion" of operations on the border with Lebanon.

In addition to the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces are stepping up overnight raids in major cities in the occupied West Bank, including Jenin and Ramallah, where Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority is based, according to the official Wafa news agency.

The army's general staff warned of an intensification of the fire along the border with Lebanon, where Hezbollah operates, a movement that like the Palestinian Hamas is part of the "axis of resistance", a grouping of armed groups close to Iran and hostile to Israel.

Near the Lebanese border, in the Israeli-annexed Golan, a drone crashed overnight Wednesday to Thursday, the Israeli army told AFP after a nebula of fighters from pro-Iran armed groups claimed responsibility for an attack on the area.

05:25: Israeli soldier dies after being infected with fungus in sewage

On Wednesday evening, the WHO warned of the grave danger to the population of Gaza, which has no food and very little drinking water. That same evening, an Israeli soldier wounded in combat died after being infected with a fungus found in sewage in Gaza, reports our special correspondent in Jerusalem, Hajera Mohammad.

Fusarium or Aspergillus is one of these two fungi that probably killed this soldier, according to Professor Cyrille Cohen, who heads the immunotherapy laboratory at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv: "What happened is that we are talking about an infection during contact with sewage or obviously the sludge near this wastewater. Sometimes, with the wounds open, the wound can become infected and at that point, the fungus can enter and multiply. It can destroy the respiratory tract, destroy various organs and also neutralize the immune system.

The non-contagious infection is treatable, there is a treatment, but in the case of this seriously wounded soldier, it did not work: "Not only did the treatments not work, but we also tried some experimental treatments. And unfortunately, there was no possibility of saving the life of this soldier who was also seriously injured.

A dozen other soldiers are said to be suffering from the same infection. No comment has been made for the moment on the side of the Israeli army because there is no question of creating a psychosis. But if a fungus is making soldiers sick in Gaza, it must also be making Palestinians sick, for whom access to health care has become very difficult, if not impossible, since the beginning of the war.

► Watch our live broadcast of November 27 here

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• Israel
• Gaza
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Palestinian Territories
• Binyamin Netanyahu