'We sleep in dirt': Grim living conditions in Gaza due to Israeli siege

Palestinians in Gaza are running out of clean water and are at risk of disease from pollution and poor sanitation, as a result of Israel's bombardment and siege. 

In Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, nine-year-old Rafif Abu Ziyada told Reuters she was drinking dirty water and getting stomach pains and headaches. 

"There is no cooking gas, there is no water, we don't eat well. We are getting sick," she said. "There's garbage on the ground and the whole place is polluted."

Sixty-year-old Ibrahim al-Jabalawy said: "The water is salty. In normal days you wouldn't give it to a donkey to drink. But nowadays you must drink it and let your children drink it.

There's no medicine to treat them if they get sick from the polluted water."

Jabalawy added that his daughter was getting painful rashes on her skin. 

"She is scratching all night and there is no medicine... What can we do? We have to tolerate it," he said.

Washing facilities are scarce, while toilets have been getting filthier by the day, Gaza residents told Reuters. 

Majeda Abu Rjaila, who is staying in a shelter in Khan Younis, leaves the shelter every day to sit by a road to get away from the pollution and bad smells.

"We sleep in dirt. We cover ourselves with whatever we can. We drink whatever we can, eat whatever we can," she said.