The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has received a “preliminary commitment” allowing for temporary “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza to distribute polio vaccines as deteriorating conditions caused by Israel’s war fuel the spread of disease and illness throughout the besieged strip.
Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the Palestinian territory, said on Thursday that the three pauses will take place from 6am to 3pm (03:00 to 12:00 GMT) and last for three days each in different areas of Gaza, beginning on Sunday.
“I’m not going to say this is the ideal way forward. But this is a workable way forward,” Peeperkorn said. “It will happen and should happen because we have an agreement.”
Humanitarian and medical groups said Israel’s nearly 11-month assault on Gaza has displaced almost the entire population and created unsanitary conditions that have allowed the proliferation of diseases.
Abdel-Rahman Abu El-Jedian, a 10-month-old Palestinian, became partially paralysed this week after contracting polio, which had not been present in Gaza for 25 years.
Peeperkorn said the campaign will aim to vaccinate 640,000 children under the age of 10.
“It [the agreement] came about after intense pressure from UN officials and the United States with Secretary of State Antony Blinken also reportedly appealing to Israel to allow this campaign to happen,” Al Jazeera correspondent Kristen Saloomey reported from the United Nations in New York.
“They [the vaccinations] will start in central Gaza, and then they’re going to move to southern Gaza for three days and then to northern Gaza for three days. They say that they’ve been given assurances by the Israeli authorities that if they do not accomplish as many shots as they need in those three days that they’ll be given an extra day in each of those places as well,” she added.
The Palestinian group Hamas told the Reuters news agency that it welcomed the news and would work with international organisations to help facilitate the campaign’s success.
Israeli authorities said on Wednesday that vaccinations would be carried out in coordination with the Israeli military “as part of the routine humanitarian pauses that will allow the population to reach the medical centres where the vaccinations will be administered”.
Humanitarian groups have accused Israel of systematically dismantling medical infrastructure and targeting humanitarian aid workers in Gaza throughout the conflict.
