UN warns foot, mouth disease increasing in occupied West Bank amid Israeli restrictions

Cases of foot and mouth disease are on the rise in the occupied West Bank amid increasing Israeli restrictions on movement, jeopardizing public health in nomadic communities, the UN said Thursday.

"Our humanitarian colleagues warn that foot and mouth disease is now increasing concerns for vulnerable Bedouin and herding communities whose livestock is their primary source of income and food," spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the UN's New York headquarters.

"Partners say that movement restrictions and insecurity are complicating timely vaccination, and [the] veterinary response that is needed to treat this disease," he added.

The occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem have seen a surge in Israeli restrictions and attacks on Palestinians, including raids, arrests, shootings and the excessive use of force, alongside rising settler assaults on Palestinian civilians and their property.

According to the Palestinian Commission Against the Wall and Settlements, Israeli forces and occupiers carried out 1,637 attacks in April alone.

Attacks have killed at least 1,155 Palestinians, wounded about 11,750 and led to the arrest of nearly 22,000 since October 2023, according to official Palestinian figures.

Turning to the Gaza Strip, Dujarric said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has demanded that sanitation workers be allowed to remove waste from storage sites to landfills due to the risk of fire.

Last Friday, a UN team mobilized to extinguish a fire at a market that has been used as a waste storage site in Gaza City that threatened to envelope nearby shelters.

"With designated landfills becoming inaccessible during hostilities, the market has been used as a major solid waste dump, with trash now covering an entire city block and exceeding four flights in height. It's hard to imagine," he said.

"Our sanitation partners report that Gaza's two sanitary landfills are near the perimeter fence surrounding the strip where access needs to be enabled by Israeli authorities. They also stress the need for permission to bring into Gaza the machinery to remove the waste, the rubble and the unexploded ordnance," he said.

Those permissions, said Dujarric, are "critical" to address the health risks from pests and rodents in Gaza.