In a recent development, a 10-month-old infant has been diagnosed with polio, marking Gaza's first case of the disease in a quarter of a century.
Polyiovirus traces were detected in a 10-month-old kid residing in Deir al-Balah, the central town in Gaza, as per the health department's declaration on Friday evening. Notably, the baby had not received any polio vaccinations.
Earlier, UNICEF reported the presence of polyiovirus in environmental samples from Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah in July. Subsequently, specimen samples from three children were forwarded to a Jordanian lab for examination.
The resurfacing of the virus, which has been eradicated in most developed regions, highlights the predicaments confronted by Gaza's population of 2 million people. They have been suffering under Israeli air strikes since last October. Due to scarcity of food, medical supplies, and clean water, many residents are forced to live in uncertainty, with about 90% of them being internally displaced.
Since Israel initiated its conflict against Hamas after the group's October 7 attack, more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza have lost their lives, according to sources. The Hamas attack resulted in over 1,200 Israeli casualties, with 250 individuals being taken hostage, as per Israeli authorities.
In response, the health department will collaborate with UNICEF to administer polio vaccines to children under 10 years old in Gaza, with more than a million doses readily available.
Two rounds of vaccination programs are scheduled for this month and the next across Gaza, as announced by UNICEF in a communique on Friday. UNICEF plans to target more than 640,000 children with these vaccines.
However, a temporary pause in hostilities is required to effectively carry out the polio vaccination campaign, concurrently endorsed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and the World Health Organization. They all advocate for an immediate halt to the fighting.
United Nations Chief António Guterres has emphasized that such an intermission is "critical," citing that "the ultimate polio vaccine is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire."
Global mediators are urgently endeavoring to persuade Israel and Hamas to conclude a more comprehensive ceasefire and hostage agreement next week, following high-stakes negotiations in Qatar.
Gaza has been polio-free for the past 25 years, according to UNICEF.
"The resurgence of polio, a situation the humanitarian community has cautioned about for the past 10 months, is yet another hazard for children in Gaza Strip and surrounding countries," UNICEF added, stressing the importance of a ceasefire.
Hamas welcomed the UN agencies' call on Friday for a seven-day "polio pause."
However, Gaza's health department issued a warning in their statement last Friday that a vaccination campaign "will not be sufficient without a drastic resolution to the problems of sanitation and waste accumulation within the displaced tent camps."
Last week, Palestinian Minister of Health, Dr. Majed Abu Ramadan, warned that Israel's air strikes have caused substantial damage to 80% of Gaza's medical infrastructure.
Most hospitals in Gaza are inoperative, and the ones that are functional are only partially operational due to direct damage and a lack of skilled medical personnel, as a result of displacement, according to the minister.
"We are on the brink of a humanitarian disaster, judging by all indicators and evidence," he said.
The Middle East, specifically Gaza, faces significant challenges with the recent detection of poliovirus, a disease that has been eradicated in most developed regions of the world.
UNICEF and the health department in Gaza plan to administer polio vaccines to children under 10 years old, acknowledging that a temporary pause in hostilities is necessary for an effective vaccination campaign, as advocated by the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
