CAIRO: Crowds of Palestinians gathered at medical centres in the south of the embattled Gaza Strip on Thursday to have their children vaccinated against polio, the start of the second stage of a campaign that has so far seen 187,000 youngsters inoculated.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said the campaign, facilitated by Hamas and Israel agreeing on limited pauses in their fighting, was so far successful but complex. But the conflict continued elsewhere in the enclave, with Gaza health authorities reporting several people killed in Israeli airstrikes, including a hit on a hospital in central Gaza.

On Thursday, vaccinations began in Rafah and Khan Yunis in the south of Gaza, both areas that have been battered by the conflict and have hosted tens of thousands of people who have fled other parts.

“The polio vaccination campaign has moved to Gaza southern areas today. UNRWA teams are in Khan Yunis this morning, working with partners to provide the vaccine to children,” UNRWA said in a statement.

“At this critical time, area pauses must be respected to protect families and humanitarian workers,” it said.

Most of the activity will be conducted in Khan Yunis and will include residents who had been forced by the Israeli military to leave Rafah, near the border with Egypt, where Israeli forces have been operating since May.

Health officials aim to reach 640,000 Gaza children for vaccinations against polio in a campaign launched after the discovery of a case in which a one-year-old baby was partially paralysed.

This was the first known case of the disease in Gaza — one of the world’s most densely populated places — in 25 years. It re-emerged as Gaza’s health system has virtually collapsed and many hospitals have been knocked out of action due to the conflict.

Footage circulated by the Gaza Health Ministry showed large crowds of Palestinians arriving at medical facilities in Khan Yunis to get their children vaccinated.

“My message to the world is that just as you provided us with vaccination so that our children would be safe, you must provide us with a ceasefire and a stop to this conflict, as this conflict is a real catastrophe for us,” said Gaza resident Osama Brika as he accompanied his nephew into the medical facility.

One displaced Palestinian, Ikram Nasser, queuing with her son at a vaccination point, said the threat of polio had only increased people’s fears. “We live based on fear, from the bombing, from the terror, from the destruction, from the injuries. We add to that the fear of diseases that have spread, such as skin diseases, from the lack of cleanliness and the crowding,” she said.

UNRWA said on Wednesday good progress was being made in rolling out the vaccine to children in Gaza but a permanent ceasefire in the 11-month-old conflict is needed to ease humanitarian suffering.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2024