'If we sleep they bite': Rats and weasels infest camps for displaced Gazans

'If we sleep they bite': Rats and weasels infest camps for displaced Gazans9 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleYolande KnellMiddle East correspondent, JerusalemRat bites newborn baby's face as Gaza infested by rodents"We woke up to the sound of her screaming at 2am," Samah al-Daabla, the mother of four-year-old Mayaseen, tells the BBC."When my husband turned on the torch, the weasel ran away. I looked at my daughter's hand, and it was all blood. Everything was bloody."In the Gaza Strip, left devastated by war, the daily battles are now with rats, urban weasels and other pests spreading diseases.Aid workers are calling for urgent steps to counter a public health crisis.Cogat, the Israeli defence body that controls Gaza's crossings, says it is working with international organisations "to address sanitation needs".Mayaseen was given a tetanus injection in a Gaza City hospital but suffered from days of fever and vomiting. She is now recovering in her family's tent.Social media feeds have recently shown footage of rats running amok in camps for displaced families, and of newborn babies, the sick and elderly after rodents have attacked them.One grandmother with nerve damage to her feet caused by diabetes has spoken of having parts of her toes bitten off.Aid workers warn of a public health crisis in GazaIn a recent survey, cited by UN agencies, rodents or pests were frequently visible in 80% of sites where displaced families are now living, affecting some 1.45 million people.Rodents can harm people through bites and scratches as well as their urine, droppings and fleas. These can cause respiratory and skin diseases, blood infections and food poisoning.The local World Health Organization (WHO) representative, Dr Reinhilde Van De Weert, says the new infestations are "unfortunately, the predictable consequence of a collapsed living environment".More than six months after the US brokered a Gaza c...