Palestinian health minister issues schedule for polio vaccination in Gaza to begin on Sunday

By Mohamed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Palestinian Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan announced Friday that a polio vaccination campaign for children under the age of 10 will begin in Gaza on Sunday.

According to a statement issued by Ramadan, the campaign will begin on September 1 in the Deir al-Balah district of central Gaza and will continue until September 4.

It will then move to Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip from September 5 to 9, before concluding in Gaza City and the northern part of the strip from September 9 to 12.

The minister emphasized that vaccination equipment will be transported between areas as per schedule, and assured that the vaccines are completely safe. He urged Gaza residents to vaccinate their children and ignore any misinformation spread by the Israeli occupation forces.

The ministry has released maps and sent text messages to inform Gaza residents about vaccination sites and schedules.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced an initial commitment to humanitarian cease-fires in specific areas during the polio vaccination campaign.

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO's representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, stressed the need to achieve 90% vaccination coverage to prevent disease spread. He highlighted that the campaign will be conducted in two phases, but no specific dates were provided.

The agreement with the Israeli military’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) includes a three-day cease-fire in central Gaza, followed by similar cease-fires in the southern and northern regions.

On Friday, Israeli Channel 12 reported that a senior WHO official said Tel Aviv had agreed to a temporary halt in military offensives in designated areas to allow for vaccination.

However, Israel officially made no immediate comment on the potential temporary cease-fire.

On August 16, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a seven-day humanitarian truce to carry out the vaccination campaign for 640,000 children, a call supported by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). This call followed the Palestinian Health Ministry's report of Gaza's first confirmed polio case in a ten-month-old child.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

The onslaught has resulted in over 40,600 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and over 93,800 injuries, according to local health authorities.

An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi