The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is ready to resume polio vaccinations in northern Gaza, after the campaign was suspended last month amid escalating Israeli attacks in the area.
The UN-led campaign was dealt a major blow on October 23, when Israeli forces struck a school in northern Gaza where vaccinations were set to take place, forcing the temporary suspension of the program. The three-phased campaign, which began in September, has been facilitated by a series of pauses in fighting agreed to by the Israeli military.
In a statement on Friday, the WHO said it had received the necessary assurances to restart the campaign in northern Gaza, caveating that the area covered by the humanitarian pause will be smaller this time.
To ensure more displaced people can access vaccinations, more staff have been drafted in and the time period for humanitarian pauses has also been extended by two hours, the WHO statement said.
Israel’s recent bombing campaign targeting Hamas in the northern towns of Jabalya, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun means that roughly 15,000 children “still remain inaccessible and will be missed during the campaign,” the WHO said.
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, which manages the flow of aid into the strip, said Friday that polio vaccinations would resume from Saturday-Monday. In coordination with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) through COGAT, the international organizations will “vaccinate hundreds of thousands of children over the next three days,” COGAT said.
