CHALLENGE OF VACCINATIONS IN WAR ZONE
Gaza’s health ministry first reported the polio case in the unvaccinated 10-month-old baby a week ago in the central city of Deir Al-Balah, an often embattled area in the war.
Hamas on Aug 16 supported a UN request for a seven-day pause in the fighting to vaccinate Gaza children against polio, Hamas political bureau official Izzat al-Rishq said on Friday.
Israel, which has laid siege to Gaza since last October and whose ground offensive and bombardments have levelled much of the territory, said days later it would facilitate the transfer of polio vaccines into Gaza for around one million children.
The Israeli military’s humanitarian unit (COGAT) said it was coordinating with Palestinians to procure 43,000 vials of vaccine – each with multiple doses – for delivery in Israel in the coming weeks for transfer to Gaza.
The vaccines should be sufficient for two rounds of doses for more than a million children, COGAT added.
