Israel will allow for partial humanitarian pauses in fighting in the Gaza Strip for the United Nations to carry out a vaccination campaign against polio, a senior UN official said.
Israeli officials have agreed to a three-day pause in central Gaza starting Sept. 1, the day the UN will begin its inoculation campaign in Gaza, Rik Peeperkorn, who oversees Gaza operations for the World Health Organization told reporters Thursday.
That should be followed by a three-day pause in the south of Gaza and then another in the north, he said. The truce will cover only limited hours, from 6 a.m. local time into the afternoon.
Humanitarian groups have been working to start inoculations after traces of a polio virus variant were found in local water sources last month. A 10-month-old baby was diagnosed with the paralyzing disease last week in Gaza, which the WHO said has been polio-free for at least 25 years.
Israel’s liaison agency for Palestinian civilians, Cogat, described the pauses as consistent with past, localized halts to operations aimed at facilitating humanitarian relief. Its statement didn’t elaborate on the timing or duration of the pauses.
The WHO has a goal of vaccinating 90% of Gaza’s young children — 640,000 in all — by the end of the campaign. If that goal isn’t met in the first nine days, the UN has been in touch with Israel about extending the pause for another day in each region, Peeperkorn said. A second round of vaccinations will be needed four weeks after the first doses.
“I’m not going to say it’s the ideal way forward, but this is a workable way forward,” he said. “Not doing anything would be really bad. We have to stop this transmission in Gaza.”
The WHO is also coordinating with the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry on the campaign, as well as other UN agencies.
Follow the latest news on Google News
