Thousands of rodents in gardens and private homes: The mouse problem in the Gaza border communities

Residents of the western Negev have been dealing with a severe rodent infestation for over three months. The destruction and waste in Gaza, combined with the abandonment of agricultural fields, are attracting thousands of field mice, rats, and voles into private homes and gardens. Residents report dozens of rodents per day and are trying to find ways to get rid of them, while the IDF has launched a pest control operation in about fifty bases in the area.

Residents of the western Negev have been dealing with an unprecedented rodent infestation for over three months. The destruction and waste in the Gaza Strip, combined with the widespread abandonment of agricultural fields, create fertile ground for the mass reproduction of field mice, rats, and voles. The rodents are not content with open areas; they invade private gardens and homes, where residents report dozens of encounters per day. At a kindergarten in the Eshkol Regional Council, the facility had to be closed for several days after rodents jumped on children during naptime. Residents describe growing despair: they find droppings in drawers, spoiled food, and mice running freely. The IDF has launched a pest control operation in about fifty bases along the yellow line, where eight to nine infested bases are caught daily. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Tekuma Administration invested one million shekels in pest control, but the treatment focused on the most infested hotspots. An unusually long and rainy winter last year, along with infrastructure work that moves the soil in the Gaza envelope and the Strip, contribute to the spread of rodents from their burrows.