JERUSALEM (AP) — A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus has begun, the Health Ministry said Saturday, as Palestinians in the Hamas-governed enclave and the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel’s military offensives.
A small number of children in Gaza received doses a day before the large-scale vaccine rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the U.N. World Health Organization.
“There must be a cease-fire so that the teams can reach everyone targeted by this campaign,” said Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, Gaza’s deputy health minister, describing scenes of sewage running through crowded tent camps. Polio is spread through fecal matter.
Associated Press journalists saw about 10 children receiving doses at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.
“I was terrified and waiting for the vaccination to arrive and for everyone to receive it,” said Amal Shaheen, whose daughter received a dose.
In its first statement on the campaign, Israel said the vaccination program would continue through Sept. 9 and last eight hours a day. It is expected to pause some operations in Gaza to allow health workers to administer vaccines with the aim of reaching some 640,000 Palestinian children.
The vaccination campaign comes after the first polio case in 25 years in Gaza was discovered this month. Doctors concluded a 10-month-old had been partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus after not being vaccinated due to fighting. Most people who contract the disease do not experience symptoms, and those who do usually recover in a week or so. But there is no cure.
Healthcare workers in Gaza have warned of the potential for a polio outbreak for months. The territory’s humanitarian crisis has deepened during the war that broke out after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and abducting around 250. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were militants.
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The ministry said hospitals received 89 dead on Saturday, including 26 who died in an overnight Israeli bombardment, and 205 wounded — one of the highest daily tallies in months.
Meanwhile, parts of the West Bank remained on edge as Israel’s military continued its large-scale military campaign, the deadliest since the Israel-Hamas war began.
