The war going on in Gaza for about 11 months will stop for a few hours for three days from today. A temporary agreement has been reached between Israel and Hamas for children. Under this, polio drops will be administered to children up to 10 years of age in the entire Gaza and during this period there will be no war between Israel and Hamas inside Gaza. All this is happening after the incident of a 10-month-old child becoming paralyzed recently. A case of polio has been reported in Gaza for the first time in the last 25 years.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that Israel has agreed to a three-day ceasefire to allow vaccination of children in Gaza to protect them from polio. The organization’s senior official Rick Pepperkorn said that the campaign aims to vaccinate about 640000 children in the Gaza Strip and this particular campaign will start on Sunday. It will be launched in three different phases. The first in the central part of the strip, the second in the southern and the third in the northern parts. During each phase, fighting will be halted for three consecutive days between 6:00 am and 5:00 pm local time.
Polio in Gaza after 25 years
The first case of polio was reported in Gaza after nearly 25 years. In early August, a 10-month-old child was found to be suffering from polio. One of his legs was paralyzed. Out of seven tests done on him in Gaza’s hospital, six confirmed polio. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the number of people who died in Gaza due to Israeli attacks has exceeded 40,000. At the same time, the number of people who died due to the disease is not clear. Hospitals are struggling with basic facilities and there has been an unexpected increase in cases of infection among children.
Polio campaign for three days from today
Gaza’s Health Ministry said a campaign to vaccinate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus began on Saturday. The ministry said children in Gaza have begun receiving vaccines. The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that the major campaign will begin on Sunday. “There must be a ceasefire so that the team can reach all the people targeted under this campaign,” Deputy Health Minister Dr. Yusuf Abu al-Rish said.
Agreement on ceasefire for at least 9 hours
Israel has agreed to halt military operations in Gaza for three days from Sunday to allow health workers to vaccinate about 650,000 Palestinian children. Officials said the halt would last at least nine hours, but it had no connection to ongoing ceasefire talks. “We will vaccinate children up to 10 years old,” said Dr. Bassam Abu Ahmed, secretary general of public health programs at Al-Quds University.
It is noteworthy that the vaccination campaign has started after the first case of polio in 25 years was reported in Gaza this month. A few hours before the campaign, the Gaza Health Ministry said that the bodies of 89 people were found in hospitals on Saturday. The ministry said that 26 of these people were killed in Israeli bombing.