Early Polio Vaccine Campaign Launches in Gaza Amid Ongoing Strikes

A new campaign to vaccinate children in Gaza against polio started on Saturday, coinciding with a planned temporary cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas. This initiative is supported by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), which aims to prevent the spread of the poliovirus in the region.

The Hamas-controlled health ministry announced that the vaccination effort has commenced, allowing young children to receive their vaccinations. Reports from the Associated Press showed mothers bringing their infants to the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis for vaccinations, showcasing the urgency of the situation.

One concerned mother, Amal Shaheen, expressed her anxiety while waiting for her daughter to receive the vaccine. “I was terrified and waiting for the vaccination to arrive and for everyone to receive it,” she said, highlighting the fears that many parents in the region share.

The Israeli authorities are expected to halt certain military operations in Gaza to facilitate the vaccination process, with the WHO announcing a larger campaign set to begin on Sunday. The plan involves providing polio vaccines to around 650,000 Palestinian children, addressing a dire health emergency.

Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, the deputy health minister, emphasized the necessity of a cease-fire to reach all children targeted by the vaccination drive. He painted a grim picture of the conditions in crowded tent camps in Gaza, where unsanitary environments are rampant.

A pause in hostilities is anticipated to last at least nine hours, enabling health teams to conduct this critical vaccination effort. This agreement is part of the coordination with the WHO and is not linked to ongoing cease-fire discussions involving Israel, Hamas, and regional mediators.

This vaccination campaign follows a worrying incident involving a 10-month-old boy named Abdel-Rahman Abu El-Jedian, who was partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the poliovirus. This strain comes from vaccinated individuals shedding the virus in their waste. Notably, he was not vaccinated due to being born shortly before the onset of deadly clashes on October 7, intensifying the ongoing conflict.

His mother, Neveen Abu El Jidyan, detailed the struggle her family faces under dire living conditions, stating, “We haven’t given him any treatments. We live in a tent, and there is no medication.” Neveen has been displaced from the north of Gaza and is now living in a tent in Deir el-Balah with her nine other children.

Abdel-Rahman had been reaching developmental milestones prior to his illness, but following the onset of fever and vomiting, his family sought medical aid only to be told that no treatment was available. Neveen attributed her son’s health crisis to their unsanitary living conditions, lamenting, “We don’t have clean water, clean food. We live in a tent, and nothing is clean here.”

The global effort to eradicate polio has markedly reduced the incidence of the disease, yet healthcare providers in Gaza have warned about the risk of an outbreak amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the conflict. Following Hamas’s attack that resulted in numerous fatalities in Israel, Israeli military responses have reportedly claimed over 40,000 Palestinian lives, though exact figures on civilian casualties remain unclear.

As circumstances remain precarious, the health ministry in Gaza reported numerous casualties, with 89 bodies received on Saturday alone, including 26 resulting from overnight Israeli airstrikes, revealing the devastating toll of the violence in recent months.

In the West Bank, tensions are also high as the Israeli military continues its large-scale operations. Two car bombings executed by Palestinian militants resulted in injuries to three Israeli soldiers, further fueling the cycle of violence. The Israeli military responded by killing the bombers, as they labeled the attack in Gush Etzion a significant act of defiance against the occupying forces.

Despite the deadly clashes ongoing in the region, Hamas praised the bombings as a “heroic operation,” while affirming its commitment to continuing such actions. Israeli military operations across various West Bank cities, particularly Jenin and Tulkarem, have escalated, producing a rise in Palestinian deaths, which now totals over 663 in the past 11 months amid the ongoing conflict.

As strikes continue in places like Khan Younis and Gaza City, hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties, often comprising innocent civilians, including healthcare professionals and children. The humanitarian crisis grows as diplomatic efforts to establish a lasting cease-fire continue to stall, despite involvement by nations such as the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt.

These relentless hostilities have underscored the dire need for immediate humanitarian aid, as the conflict significantly hampers the ability to contain potentially disastrous health crises such as polio, affecting the most vulnerable populations—children in Gaza.

Source: Associated Press