Israel pauses attacks on Gaza as UN begins polio vaccinations

First three-day pause began on Sunday as children in enclave await inoculation

A nurse administers polio vaccine drops to a Palestinian child at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. EPA

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A pause in Israeli attacks on Gaza began on Sunday morning as the UN began polio vaccinations, hoping to inoculate more than 600,000 children after the disease re-emerged in the strip for the first time in 25 years.

There was no immediate report of morning air strikes on the enclave, where more than 40,700 people have been killed since the war began in October.

Health workers hope to vaccinate at least 90 per cent of children up to 10 years old – an enormous task in the besieged territory, which has been left without a single fully functioning hospital or water sanitation system.

Sunday marks the first of a three-day pause in central Gaza, where the campaign will begin before similar “pauses” are introduced in southern and northern Gaza.

It is the first pause in fighting since a week-long ceasefire in November, which secured the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails.

A second round of vaccinations will begin on September 17, aimed at 640,000 children in total, according to the UN children’s fund, Unicef, and Gazan health officials.

More than a million vaccine doses are currently being stored at a warehouse in Deir Al Balah.

Vaccinations will be given at 11 health centres run by both the Health Ministry and UN agencies, while mobile health units will also travel “tent-to-tent” in displacement camps, a Unicef spokesman told The National last week.

From Sunday until Tuesday, the first round of vaccinations will be administered at several points across Deir Al Balah from 6am until 2pm, according to the World Health Organisation.

On Wednesday, teams will tour "low-vaccination neighbourhoods" in the city to check children have been innoculated, while mobile teams will be placed on roads "with high population movement" from Thursday.

Children in Khan Younis, parts of Rafah and southern Deir Al Balah will be vaccinated from Thursday to Sunday, before vaccinations will begin in Gaza city and northern governorates.

Gaza's first case of polio – a 10-month-old baby who has now been paralysed – was confirmed in August, a month after authorities announced the disease had been detected in sewage.

Polio vaccine coverage in the enclave was estimated at 99 per cent in 2022 but had dropped to below 90 per cent at the start of this year, according to Who.

The highly contagious disease, which mostly affects children, is mainly transmitted through contact with contaminated faeces, water or food.

While most cases are asymptomatic, symptoms of the disease can include fever, vomiting and stiffness of the limbs, according to the WHO, while one in 200 patients will be permanently paralysed.

It has largely been eradicated globally but remains endemic in two countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Calls to end the war have only grown since the disease was first declared present in the enclave, but the prospect of a full-scale ceasefire remains distant.

At least four people, including a baby, were killed in strikes on central Gaza on Sunday, according to the official Wafa news agency.

The strikes targeted Gaza city and Al Bureij refugee camp - both of which are located outside of the zone where a "pause" has been declared.

On Saturday, US President Joe Biden said he remains “optimistic” a deal can be reached – a claim the US has repeated throughout failed rounds of negotiations.

“It’s time this war ended … I think we’re on the verge of having an agreement,” he said, confirming ceasefire talks are still taking place.

His comments came as Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six hostages from Gaza's southern city of Rafah overnight, fuelling public anger against the government for continuing the war.

US-Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the most well-known hostages, was among the dead.