The World Health Organization said on Friday that it aimed to provide a second round of polio vaccination to youngsters in northern Gaza starting next week, after Israeli shelling had suspended the campaign.
The immunization effort began on September 1, after the besieged Palestinian area reported its first incidence of polio in 25 years.
The initial round of inoculation was completed, and the second round, which is required to establish immunity, began as planned on October 14, first in central Gaza and subsequently in the south, supported by so-called humanitarian pauses in hostilities.
However, the WHO announced on Wednesday that the last phase in the north had been postponed owing to “intense bombardment,” which made ground conditions “impossible.”
Israel began a large air and military assault in northern Gaza this month, claiming it sought to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping there.
“We still have good hopes that we can do this campaign,” Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO official in the Palestinian territories, said on Friday.
Hezbollah drone strike murders four and injures others at Israeli base.
“We have this window from October 28 and November 5, and I am convinced that it will happen.” We need access to children wherever they are,” he told a Geneva press event via video connection from Gaza.
“It is crucial to complete. Everyone understands this, including all of the people involved in the fight.
“We owe it to our kids to finish this,” he added, expressing concern that the virus may spread beyond the war-torn territory’s boundaries.
“We are making preparations that it will happen.”
According to Peeperkorn, 452,000 children have been vaccinated in central and southern Gaza, while 119,000 children in the north are waiting for their second dosage.
