The UN has called on the warring parties in Gaza to a week-long ceasefire
The United Nations has called on the warring parties in the Gaza Strip to observe a one-week humanitarian ceasefire to enable the vaccination of over half a million children against the highly infectious polio virus. The UN organizations plan to administer the polio vaccine type 2 to around 640,000 children under the age of ten from late August, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced in Geneva on Friday. "Without the humanitarian pauses, the execution of the campaign will not be possible."
The virus was detected in wastewater samples in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the center of the Gaza Strip in July, according to Palestinian and Israeli reports. At the beginning of August, the WHO announced that it would send more than one million doses of polio vaccine to the Gaza Strip. According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the detection of the polio pathogen in the coastal region is an indication that "the virus is circulating in the population and poses a threat to unvaccinated children."
On July 30, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip declared the Palestinian territory a "polio epidemic area." The authority blames the destruction of healthcare facilities by Israel's army for the outbreak of the disease.
Poliomyelitis - the medical term for infantile paralysis - is caused by an acutely infectious virus that attacks the spinal cord and can cause irreversible paralysis in children. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination prevents its spread.
- The UN stated that without the implementation of a one-week humanitarian ceasefire, it would be impossible to execute the polio vaccination campaign effectively for over half a million children.
- The warring parties were urged by the United Nations to observe a temporary cessation of hostilities, as the forgoing of such a ceasefire would hinder the vaccination efforts against the polio virus.
