The final phase of a two-phase polio vaccination campaign will resume in northern Gaza on Saturday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
The second stage was postponed to October by UN agencies due to Israeli bombardment, mass displacement and lack of access to the region.
Gaza recorded its own First case of polio in 25 years in August, which left the boy with disabilities and prompted this program to be started.
Vaccinations will resume as 15 UN agencies and humanitarian organizations describe the situation in northern Gaza as a “massacre” almost a month after the start of the Israeli offensive.
A temporary ceasefire has been agreed to allow vaccination to resume in Gaza City, the WHO said.
About 15,000 children under the age of 10 in the northern towns of Gaza, such as Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, are “out of reach” and will miss the vaccination campaign, jeopardizing its effectiveness, the agency said.
WHO aimed to give 119,000 children in the area a second dose of oral polio vaccine.
The agency added that achieving this target is “now impossible due to access problems”.
The first round of the vaccination campaign successfully reached 559,000 children under the age of 10 in the three areas of southern, central and northern Gaza between 1 and 12 September, when there was a “temporary suspension” of the area agreed by Israel and the Palestinian factions.
However, the area agreed to in the latest aid freeze has been “significantly reduced” compared to the first vaccination round and is now limited to Gaza City only, according to the WHO.
Since the beginning of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza, medical experts have stressed that a delay in giving the second dose could jeopardize all efforts to stop the transmission of the contagious, potentially fatal disease.
To interrupt transmission, at least 90 percent of all children need to be given a minimum of two doses.
The UN human rights chief said last week that the “darkest period” of the war in Gaza was taking place in the north of the territory.
Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed since Israeli forces launched an offensive in Beit Lahia and the neighboring areas of Jabalia and Beit Hanoun on October 6, saying they were fighting a regrouping of Hamas.
At least 100,000 people have been forced to flee northern Gaza to Gaza City for safety, the WHO said.
A joint statement by UN bodies, including the WHO, released on Friday, said the situation is “apocalyptic”, as all Palestinians in the area are “at risk of death from disease, hunger and violence”.
The UN estimates that around 100,000 civilians remain in critical condition, with severe shortages of food, water and medical supplies.
The US warned Israel this week to rapidly increase aid to Gaza as deadline methods increasing aid or dealing with reducing US military aid. The US envoy to the UN said on Tuesday that Israel’s words “must be matched by action”, which “doesn’t happen”.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were captured.
More than 43,160 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the health ministry run by Hamas in the area.
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