Israel consents to ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza in order to administer polio vaccines

The World Health Organization announced on Thursday that Israel has consented to a series of three-day “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza to enable medical personnel to vaccinate children there against polio.

Rik Peeperkorn, the agency’s representative for Palestinian territories, stated, “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.”

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.

The vaccination campaign aims to cover more than 640,000 children under the age of 10.

“We stress the critical importance for all parties to adhere to the commitments that have been made,” Michael Ryan, WHO deputy director-general, told the UN Security Council.

“At least 90 percent of coverage is needed during each round of the campaign in order to stop the outbreak and prevent international spread of polio,” he stated.

He reported that 1.26 million doses of the NoPV2 vaccination had been sent to Gaza and that 400,000 more were on their way.

Oral administration of the vaccination involves two drops. In order to finish the immunization, health workers must return in four weeks and give each child two more doses; however, there hasn’t been any public talk about scheduling a second break in the fighting thus far.

Israel’s foreign affairs spokesman, Oren Marmorstein, stated on X that his country “has coordinated a large-scale operation with WHO and UNICEF to vaccinate children in the Gaza Strip against polio.”

According to Hamas, it is in favor of the “UN humanitarian truce.”

It is “critical that this campaign be implemented without delay,” according to US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood.

He asked that Israel “facilitate access for agencies carrying out the vaccination campaign, and for it to ensure periods of calm and refrain from military operations during vaccination campaign periods.”

Following the confirmation of the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years this month in an unvaccinated 10-month-old baby, the US and the EU have expressed alarm about the situation in Gaza.

The highly contagious poliovirus is primarily transmitted by sewage and tainted water, which is becoming a more frequent issue in Gaza as a result of Israel destroying most of the region’s infrastructure during its conflict with Hamas.

Children under the age of five are primarily affected by the condition. It is potentially lethal and can result in malformations and paralysis.