Babies in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, central Gaza, were among the first to receive the vital vaccines on Saturday, according to footage filmed by news agency Reuters.
The main UN agency in Gaza, UNRWA, plans to immunize over 640,000 children in the war-torn enclave, facilitated by a series of pauses in fighting agreed to by Israel.
However, Palestinian health officials have stressed that a “real ceasefire” is needed for the UN-led polio vaccination drive to be fully successful in the enclave.
During a press conference organized by the Ministry of Health in Gaza to officially launch the campaign, Deputy Health Minister Yousef Abu Al-Reesh said that if “the international community wants the campaign to succeed,” it should call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Vaccination teams are committed to traveling to “wherever there is a Palestinian person who needs this vaccination, despite the risks,” Al-Reesh said.
“However, it must be said that if the international community wants this campaign to succeed, everyone knows that this virus does not stop at borders and can reach everywhere, there needs to be a ceasefire so that the teams can reach everyone who is targeted by this campaign,” the minister added.
The vaccinations are set to be carried out over three 3-day periods, spanning September 1 to September 12.
One source familiar with the vaccination rollout previously told CNN that there are already concerns that the Israeli military won’t honor the pauses in fighting, highlighting how the IDF’s standard operating procedure is to pursue Hamas targets no matter what.
The return of polio to Gaza is a measure of the destruction wrought by more than 10 months of Israeli bombardment. The UN’s campaign comes after the highly infectious virus was found in sewage samples in the strip in June. A baby has since become the first person in Gaza in 25 years to be diagnosed with polio.
Before the war, Gaza had near-universal polio vaccine coverage, but it has since dropped below 90%. Polio mostly affects children under 5 years old, and can cause irreversible paralysis and even death. It’s highly infectious and there is no cure. It can only be prevented by immunization, according to the World Health Organization.
The vaccination drive comes as aid agencies reported Israeli attacks on their convoys. One charity said an Israeli strike on a humanitarian vehicle in Gaza killed several employees of a transportation company. The Israeli military said it targeted “armed men” who had taken over the convoy.
