Major development in Gaza after polio horror

A 10-month-old baby who became paralysed by polio in Gaza has prompted an extraordinary series of events in the beseiged territory.

A short pause in fighting in Gaza has been agreed to allow 640,000 children to be vaccinated against polio, after at least one baby became paralysed by a mutated strain of the virus.

It was the first case of polio to hit the territory in 25 years.

Israel has agreed to a series of three-day “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza to allow UN health officials to administer polio vaccinations in the territory, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

“The way we discussed and agreed, the campaign will start on the first of September, in central Gaza, for three days, and there will be a humanitarian pause during the vaccination,” said Rik Peeperkorn, the agency’s representative for Palestinian territories.

The vaccination rollout will also cover southern and northern Gaza, which will each get their own three-day pauses, Peeperkorn told reporters, adding that Israel had agreed to allow an additional day if required.

Israeli troops operate on their side of the fence separating Israel from the Gaza Strip on August 29, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

A child sits holding his biscuits at the Jabalia camp for displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza on August 29, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant Hamas group. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday night the new measures were “not a ceasefire.” Hamas said it supports the “UN humanitarian truce.”

The United States and European Union have both voiced concern over polio in Gaza, after the first case there in 25 years was confirmed this month in an unvaccinated 10-month-old baby.

UN agencies have said they plan to provide oral vaccines against type-2 poliovirus (cVDPV2) to more than 640,000 children in the territory.

Poliovirus is highly infectious and most often spread through sewage and contaminated water -- an increasingly common problem in Gaza with much of the territory’s infrastructure destroyed by Israel in its war against Hamas.

Palestinians who retuned briefly to eastern Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip to check on property, carry away some items they were able to salvage amid the devastation, after Israeli troops pulled out from some blocks in the area. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

The disease mainly affects children under the age of five. It can cause deformities and paralysis, and is potentially fatal.

Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 40,405 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not break down civilian and militant deaths. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.

Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants in their attack, 105 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

With AFP

Originally published as Major development in Gaza after polio horror