Israel has agreed to implement a series of “humanitarian pauses” in its military operations in Gaza to facilitate a crucial polio vaccination drive for children, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced. The campaign, set to begin on Sunday, aims to immunize approximately 640,000 children across the Gaza Strip against polio, marking a significant effort in preventing the spread of the disease in the conflict-ridden region.
The vaccination campaign will be conducted in three stages, targeting central, southern, and northern Gaza. During each stage, a three-day pause in fighting will be observed between 06:00 and 15:00 local time to ensure the safe administration of the vaccine. The agreement comes in the wake of reports from UN officials of a 10-month-old child in Gaza being partially paralyzed after contracting the first case of polio in the area in 25 years.
The vaccination effort will utilize the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2), with 1.26 million doses already in Gaza and an additional 400,000 doses expected to arrive soon. The campaign is a coordinated effort led by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in partnership with WHO, UNICEF, and UNRWA, involving over 2,000 trained health and community outreach workers.
WHO has set an ambitious goal of achieving 90% vaccine coverage across Gaza to prevent further transmission of the virus. An additional fourth day of vaccination and pause in fighting has been planned if necessary to reach this coverage target.
Poliovirus is a highly infectious disease that spreads through sewage and contaminated water, posing a significant risk to children under five. It can lead to severe disfigurement, paralysis, and even death. Before the conflict, immunization rates in Gaza and the occupied West Bank were near optimal, with polio vaccine coverage estimated at 99% in 2022. However, recent data shows a decline to 89%.
Hamas official Basem Naim expressed readiness to cooperate with international organizations to ensure the success of the vaccination campaign, which he said would serve and protect over 650,000 Palestinian children in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized that these three-day pauses are not a ceasefire but a humanitarian measure.
The initiative has garnered international support, with James Kariuki, the UK’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, strongly welcoming the plan. He stressed the importance of ensuring the pauses are long enough to achieve the required 90% vaccination coverage and urged for the protection of vulnerable children gathering at vaccination sites.
Meanwhile, Prof. Hagai Levine, a spokesman for the Hostages Families Forum, urged health workers to ensure that Israeli hostages still held in Gaza are included in the vaccination campaign.
This vaccination drive takes place against the backdrop of Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, which began in response to an unprecedented attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people and the capture of 251 hostages. Since then, more than 40,530 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
