The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) launched a polio vaccination campaign on Sunday for children under 10 years old in the central Gaza Strip.
“Children in Gaza began receiving polio vaccines this morning,” stated the UN agency’s announcement.
The statement added that the vaccination campaign started in central Gaza, where more than 200 teams are administering vaccines at 28 UNRWA health centers and visiting different tents.
UNRWA provided a map detailing the vaccination centers in central Gaza. Thousands of Palestinians flocked to these centers to vaccinate their children against polio.
Medical teams at vaccination centers in the central city of Deir al-Balah have observed signs of fatigue and malnutrition among many children receiving vaccinations due to harsh conditions resulting from Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, which have persisted for nearly eleven months.
The campaign, conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, is focused on central Gaza from September 1st to 4th, followed by Khan Younis from September 5th to 9th, and will conclude in Gaza City and the northern area from September 9th to 12th, according to official sources.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a seven-day humanitarian ceasefire on August 16th to allow the polio vaccination campaign targeting 640.000 children. This call was supported by UNRWA. The request came after the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the first confirmed case of polio in Gaza, affecting a ten-month-old child.
In violation of a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its ongoing brutal offensive in the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian group Hamas launched an attack on October 7th, 2023.
According to local health authorities, more than 40.700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since then, with over 94.000 injured.
In more than ten months of Israel’s war, large parts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel faces genocide charges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians sought refuge before the area was attacked on May 6th, Federalna writes.
