Following months of conflict in Gaza, thousands of tons of garbage remain piled up in the streets. The three main landfills in pre-war Gaza have been closed due to the conflict, forcing local authorities to "find temporary dumpsites," said Reuters.
In the first eight months of the war, more than 364,000 tons of waste are "estimated to have built up in the Palestinian territory," said the BBC. There's now approximately 2,000 tons of garbage being created daily.
Gazans often end up embedded within these temporary dumpsites. Many Palestinians "running out of areas to shelter say they have had little choice but to pitch tents near trash piles," said The Associated Press. In Khan Younis, a "tent city has sprung up" around an informal landfill, with Palestinians "living between piles of garbage."
Conditions are particularly bad for those who fled the shelled city of Rafah. Many "have been forced to live in open areas that had already been turned into temporary refuse tips," said the BBC. The "smell is very disturbing," displaced Gazan Asmahan al-Masri told the BBC. "I keep my tent door open so that I can get some air, but there's no air."
Diseases are running rampant, and "doctors fear cholera may be on the horizon," said the AP. The "crowded conditions, the lack of water, the heat, the poor sanitation — these are the preconditions of cholera," said Joanne Perry, a doctor with Doctors Without Borders. Major polio outbreaks are also occurring. | 
