Large-scale polio vaccination through ‘humanitarian pauses’

Of the “humanitarian breaks” The uncertain outlines of the campaign are set to begin Sunday to allow for large-scale polio vaccination in the Gaza Strip, where the first case was recently confirmed in a baby. The campaign, announced by Israel and the government of the Islamist Hamas movement in Gaza, aims to vaccinate more than 640,000 children under the age of ten in the besieged Palestinian territory devastated by nearly 11 months of war.

Polio vaccines were administered as early as Saturday. But it was not until Sunday that the campaign officially began in Gaza, where polio had been eradicated 25 years ago. It is being carried out by teams from the Health Ministry, UNRWA (a UN agency) and NGOs, according to Dr. Moussa Abed, director of primary care at the Health Ministry of the Hamas government.

The UN has sent 1.2 million doses of the nOPV2 vaccine, which consists of two oral drops. The second dose of the vaccine must be received four weeks after the first. On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Israel had agreed to a series of “humanitarian breaks” three days each in the center, then the south and the north of the Gaza Strip.

Denying “reports of a general ceasefire” To enable this vaccination campaign, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that Israel “will only allow a humanitarian corridor”.

Prevent a spread

“In addition, demarcated areas will be established to allow the safe administration of vaccines for a few hours”he said, judging “important to prevent the outbreak of polio in the Gaza Strip, particularly with the aim of preventing the spread of the epidemic throughout the region”Israeli authorities said the vaccines would be administered from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday in the center of the territory, where the first case of polio — in a 10-month-old baby — was confirmed.

They also announced three days of vaccination at the same times in the south and then in the north of the Gaza Strip, whose 2.4 million inhabitants are now almost all displaced. “At the end of each regional vaccination campaign, an assessment of the situation will be carried out”they explained. Due in part to damaged roads and displaced populations, the UN had indicated that it might need an additional day for each area. According to the UN, “At least 90% coverage is needed in each phase of the campaign to stop the epidemic”.

Lack of hygiene

Eid Abu Taha, 33, brought his 11-month-old son to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis (south) to get him vaccinated. This campaign “is very important especially because there are more and more displaced people who are crowding together and there are epidemics spreading among children”he said. “At first I hesitated, I was very afraid that this vaccine was not safe but when I saw that everyone was going to the vaccination center, I was reassured”explained Bakr Dib, 35, who came to have his children aged three, five and eight vaccinated.

“Since the beginning of hostilities, my children have caught several diseases because we could not ensure good hygiene with the war”The conflict was sparked by a massive Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which killed 1,199 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, a movement it describes as a terrorist organization, as do the United States and the European Union.

Its retaliation for the Hamas attack has left at least 40,691 dead in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas Health Ministry, and caused a humanitarian and health disaster. According to the UN, the majority of the dead are women and minors. The Civil Defense recorded another forty deaths in Israeli strikes there on Saturday. Among them, nine adults from the same family died following a strike on a house in the Nusseirat refugee camp (center), Marwan Abou Nassar, a doctor at al-Awda hospital, told AFP.

In Gaza City (north), the Ministry of Health announced “dead and injured among patients and their relatives” after “Al-Ahly hospital complex was targeted on Saturday evening”. This is a “Israeli bombing of nearby terrain” from the hospital, a hospital source said.

Operation in the West Bank

At the same time, in the north of the West Bank, occupied since 1967, Israel continued its vast military operation against armed groups, launched on Wednesday and which has sparked concern and protests from the international community. “We are afraid, we are terrified”explained a mother, Faïza Abou Jaafar, in Jenin. “We are living in dark days”.

“Electricity and water are completely cut off in the refugee camp”et “80% of the city’s districts no longer have a water supply”deplores Bachir Matahine, the spokesman for the Jenin municipality, quoted by the Palestinian news agency Wafa. The chief of staff of the Israeli army, General Herzi Halevi, went to Jenin on Saturday and explained that his troops were working on “Dismantling terrorism in refugee camps”.

At least 22 Palestinians, mostly fighters, have been killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank since Wednesday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. All “terrorists”the Israeli army said. According to the Wafa news agency, an octogenarian was among those killed. Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, and Islamic Jihad said at least 14 of the dead were fighting in their ranks.