The global charity is sounding the alarm over the risk of deadly diseases spreading in Gaza, saying that the Israeli invasion of Rafah is compounding a “lethal cocktail of over-crowding, sewage and hunger”, Al Jazeera reports.

Oxfam’s staff in Gaza are describing piles of human waste and rivers of sewage in the streets. They said people are also drinking dirty water while children are being bitten by insects swarming around the sewage. All of this makes conditions ripe for the outbreak of epidemics, including Hepatitis A and cholera, the charity warned.

The situation is further worsened by Israel’s invasion of Rafah, it said.

“Israel’s military assault on Rafah could be devastating, not only because of the risk of mass civilian casualties, but also the repercussions of vast numbers of people being forced to move,” Oxfam’s Middle East Director Sally Abi Khalil said.