The World Health Organization announces agreements for limited “pauses” in Israeli attacks on Gaza to enable health workers to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children against polio, following the first confirmed case in 25 years in the besieged strip.
Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative in the Palestinian territories, announced that the “humanitarian pauses” will begin on Sunday in central Gaza and run for eight to nine hours each day over the course of three days. This will be followed by similar pauses in southern and northern Gaza.
10-month-old Abdul Rahman is #Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years—a stark reminder of how war steals futures. WHO & partners are planning a two-round vaccination campaign to protect 640 000 kids.
Every child deserves a healthy future.#HealthForAll pic.twitter.com/8KbdhPuiOA
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) August 29, 2024
The vaccination campaign, which aims to vaccinate 640,000 children under the age of 10, will involve over 2,000 health workers from UN agencies and Gaza’s Health Ministry. Peeperkorn stressed the importance of the pauses in order to reach the majority of children in Gaza.
The agreement was reached after a 10-month-old baby in Gaza was paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus that vaccinated individuals shed in their waste. This incident highlighted the urgent need for the vaccination campaign.
While these humanitarian pauses do not constitute a ceasefire deal, Hamas has expressed readiness to cooperate with international organizations to ensure the success of the polio vaccination campaign. The agreement comes after months of devastating conflict in Gaza.
The ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza has claimed the lives of at least 40,602 Palestinians, with the majority being women and children, and has left 93,855 others injured. The toll of the conflict continues to rise as thousands remain missing under the rubble.
The WHO and UN agencies are hopeful that the three-day pause in fighting will provide a crucial window of opportunity to protect Gaza’s children from the threat of polio.
Source: Agencies (edited and translated by Al-Manar English Website)
