The World Health Organization has said it delivered 1.2m doses of polio vaccine to Gaza, with 400,000 more to follow, as part of an emergency campaign after the first case of the childhood disease in the war-hit coastal strip in a quarter of a century.
The vaccinations, due to begin this weekend, will be accompanied by three-day pauses in the fighting in several areas of the territory to allow the inoculation of more than 640,000 children.
However, UN officials warned that Hamas and the Israeli military “must respect” the humanitarian pauses negotiated to allow the vaccinations, after two incidents this week – one deadly – when Israeli forces fired on aid vehicles, raising questions over how safely the vaccinations could be conducted.
Underlining the scale of the challenge one WHO official said the plan was “not ideal” but added that it would be feasible “if all the pieces of the puzzle” were in place.
The WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, confirmed vaccinations were due to start on Sunday with daily pauses scheduled to take place between 6am and 3pm.
UN officials have said the vaccination campaign will be carried out in three-day phases in different zones of the Gaza Strip.
The campaign has been organised after the WHO said earlier this month that a baby had been paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, prompting UN agencies to urge an urgent vaccination effort.
It will involve more than 2,000 health and community workers at several hundred locations.
“From Sunday, we’re giving out two oral doses of the polio vaccination, and then four weeks after this initial round of campaigns we will need to repeat the vaccination again. This is for 640,000 children across the Gaza Strip,” Louise Wateridge, a UN official, told the BBC.
“It’s so important that we get this vaccination campaign out as soon as possible, and that we have the safety to do this, because the repercussions will be disastrous for not just children in the Gaza Strip but children in the region. And they have already been put through so much.”
In response to concerns over the safety of aid workers and families during the campaign, Catherine Russell, the executive director of Unicef, said the humanitarian pauses must be respected.
“UNICEF is ready to start the first round of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza on Sunday to reach nearly 640,000 children. All parties MUST respect the area-specific humanitarian pauses to stop polio from spreading in Gaza and the region,” she wrote on X.
“If fighting doesn’t stop, polio vaccinators are unable to reach children. Gaza has been polio free for 25 years until now. Failing to respect these pauses would be an unforgivable failure for the children in Gaza and the region, who have already suffered so much.”
On Thursday, an Israeli missile hit a convoy carrying medical supplies and fuel to an Emirati hospital in the Gaza Strip, killing five Palestinians from a local transportation company, the American Near East Refugee Aid group (Anera) said on Friday.
Israel claimed without immediate evidence that it opened fire after gunmen seized the convoy. Sandra Rasheed, the Palestine director at Anera, said: “The convoy, which was coordinated by Anera and approved by Israeli authorities, included an Anera employee who was fortunately unharmed.
“Despite this devastating incident, our understanding is that the remaining vehicles in the convoy were able to continue and successfully deliver the aid to the hospital. We are urgently seeking further details about what happened.” Anera planned to release more information on Friday.
An Israeli military spokesperson, Lt Col Avichay Adraee, posted on X that “gunmen seized a car at the head of the convoy (a Jeep) and began driving”.
Israeli forces had opened fire on aid convoys in the Gaza Strip before this week’s incidents.
The World Food Programme announced on Wednesday that it was pausing all staff movement in Gaza until further notice after Israeli troops opened fire on one of its marked vehicles, hitting it with at least 10 rounds. The shooting came despite having received multiple clearances from Israeli authorities.
On 23 July, Unicef said two of its vehicles were hit with live ammunition while waiting at a designated holding point.
A sustained Israeli attack on a convoy in April hit three World Central Kitchen vehicles, killing seven people.
