Israeli attacks on Gaza kill dozens ahead of promised humanitarian pause

The UN is set to start a polio vaccination campaign in the enclave on Sunday

Israeli troops are operating on the ground in the Gaza Strip. AFP

Israel's military killed at least 29 Palestinians in intensified attacks across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, just a day before it agreed to a limited pause in the war to enable the UN to start a polio vaccination drive for children.

Medical workers from the Palestine Red Crescent took three dead and a number of injured people to Al Ahli Arab Hospital after Israeli warplanes attacked a house in Al Sabra neighbourhood south of Gaza city, news agency Wafa reported. Three more were killed in an attack on Al Zeitoun neighbourhood to the south-east of Gaza city.

A Palestinian man was killed and others were injured in an attack on Jabalia camp in northern Gaza. Nine were killed by an artillery barrage on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. In another attack on Nuseirat, eight people were killed and others were injured in attacks when two homes were hit. In Khan Younis, five people were killed and 15 were injured in a strike on a house.

The latest attacks came as the United Nations is slated to start vaccinating some 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip against polio on Sunday, a campaign that relies on daily eight-hour pauses in fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in specific areas of the besieged enclave.

The latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent assault on the Hamas-ruled enclave has since killed more than 40,600 Palestinians, according to the enclave's Health Ministry. The war has also displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

Polio vaccination drive

The campaign, which is targeting children under 10, will start in central Gaza, with three consecutive daily pauses in fighting. It will then move to the southern part of the strip, where there would be another three-day pause, followed by the north.

The pauses in each zone will be extended to a fourth day, which the World Health Organisation said would probably be needed. It follows confirmation last week that a baby was paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.

WHO officials say at least 90 per cent of the children need to be vaccinated twice with four weeks between doses for the campaign to succeed, but it faces huge challenges in Gaza, which has been largely destroyed by nearly 11 months of war.

West Bank

Menawhile, the Israeli said on Saturday its soldiers killed two people in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, after one entered an Israeli settlement and another shot at soldiers after his car exploded. The terrorists attempted to run over a security guard at the entrance to the community Karmei Tzur and entered the settlement.

Soldiers killed one assailant who had opened fire at them and were searching for others. In another incident, a car caught fire and exploded in a petrol station, the military said.