GAZA, (PIC)
Catherine Russell, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), announced on Thursday that the second round of the polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip will begin on October 14.
Russell said in a post on her X platform account that an agreement has been reached with Israeli officials regarding humanitarian periods for the areas included in the vaccination.
She noted that UNICEF will provide vitamin A supplements for children to strengthen their immune systems, reminding that hygiene standards for children in Gaza are extremely poor.
She said, “It is important for all parties to respect these periods; otherwise, it will not be possible to vaccinate the children.”
On Wednesday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced that the Israeli army is besieging at least 400,000 Palestinians in northern Gaza, threatening the implementation of the second phase of the polio vaccination.
On September 12, the first phase of the Polio Vaccination Campaign in Gaza, which began earlier that month, concluded, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, with over 560,000 Palestinian children vaccinated.
On August 31, the Ministry of Health in Gaza, UNRWA, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF announced during a press conference at the Nasser hospital in southern Gaza the launch of a vaccination campaign against polio for those under 10 years old.
According to the United Nations, children in Gaza need two doses of the vaccine, each administered as two oral drops.
With American support, the Israeli genocidal war in Gaza has resulted in over 139,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, with more than 10,000 missing, amidst massive destruction and famine that has killed dozens of children and elderly people.
In contempt of the international community, Israel continues its genocidal war, ignoring the UN Security Council’s decision to end it immediately and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Tel Aviv has turned the Gaza Strip into the world’s largest prison, besieging it for the 18th year, and the genocidal war has forced nearly two million of its citizens, out of approximately 2.3 million Palestinians, to flee their homes under catastrophic conditions, with severe and deliberate shortages of food, water, and medicine.
