The World Health Organization (WHO) said the final phase of a two-phase polio vaccination campaign will resume in northern Gaza on Saturday.
The second stage is Postponed in October United Nations agencies have imposed sanctions on the region due to heavy Israeli bombing, mass displacement and lack of access to the area.
Gaza recorded its First case of polio in 25 years The plan was launched in August when a baby boy became paralyzed.
Immunization programs are set to resume nearly a month after Israel’s ground offensive began, with 15 United Nations and humanitarian groups describing the situation in northern Gaza as “apocalyptic.”
The World Health Organization said it had agreed to pause the fighting to allow vaccinations to restart in Gaza City.
The agency said some 15,000 children under the age of 10 in the northern Gaza towns of Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun “remain out of reach” and the vaccination campaign will be missed, affecting its effectiveness. sex.
The World Health Organization aims to give 119,000 children in the region a second dose of oral polio vaccine.
The agency added that “due to access restrictions, this is currently unlikely to be achieved”.
The first round of the vaccination campaign successfully covered 559,000 children under the age of 10 in southern, central and northern Gaza in three phases between September 1 and 12, during which time Israeli and Palestinian groups agreed on local ” Humanitarian Suspension”.
However, the WHO said the area agreed in the latest humanitarian pause “has been significantly reduced” compared with the first round of vaccinations, which is currently limited to Gaza City.
From the beginning of Gaza’s polio vaccination campaign, medical experts have stressed that delays in administering second doses could jeopardize overall efforts to stem the spread of the contagious, potentially deadly disease.
To stop transmission, at least 90% of children will need at least two doses.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said last week that the “darkest moments” of the war in Gaza were unfolding in the northern part of the territory.
Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed since the Israeli military launched a ground offensive in Beit Lahiya and neighboring Jabaliya and Beit Hanoun on October 6, saying it acted against Hamas militants Regroup.
The World Health Organization said that at least 100,000 people were forced to evacuate from northern Gaza to Gaza City for safety reasons.
A joint statement issued on Friday by U.N. agencies including the World Health Organization described the current situation as “apocalyptic” and that the entire Palestinian population in the region “faces an imminent risk of death from disease, famine and violence.”
The United Nations estimates that some 100,000 residents remain in dire conditions, with severe shortages of food, water and medical supplies.
USA Warning to Israel this week Immediately increase humanitarian aid to Gaza Deadline is approaching Increase aid or face cuts in U.S. military aid. The U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Tuesday that Israel’s words “must be followed by action” but “that has not happened”.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, and Israel launched an operation to destroy the organization.
Since then, more than 43,160 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
