DOHA, (PIC)
Member of Hamas’s political bureau, Ezzat Al-Resheq, announced that Hamas has supported a request by the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a 7-day truce in order to vaccinate thousands of children against polio.
Al-Resheq demanded on Telegram on Friday the urgent delivery of medicine and food to more than two million Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
On Friday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced the first infection with the polio virus, whereas UNICEF called for a humanitarian truce to vaccinate children against polio.
The Director of Field Hospitals at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Marwan Al-Hems, warned that discovering the first case of polio means that there are 200 cases that have not yet been detected and did not show symptoms.
In a statement on its website, the UNICEF called for a 7-day humanitarian truce to allow two rounds of vaccination campaigns for about 640,000 children.
The UN organization explained that this truce would allow children and families to safely access health facilities and vaccination teams.
For its part, the Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed in press statements that the vaccines entering the Gaza Strip do not meet the required limit to confront the epidemics.
It added that Israel’s ban on health supplies and children’s vaccines increases the spread of epidemics in the Strip, noting that all age groups suffer from the consequences of the harsh health situation.
The Red Crescent demanded the allocation of an open humanitarian crossing working around the clock to save the patients and wounded in the Gaza Strip.
