Israel has agreed to a series of pauses in fighting in Gaza in September to allow young children in the enclave to be vaccinated for polio, according to United Nations and Israeli officials.
The World Health Organization on Thursday said it had reached an agreement with Israel to observe humanitarian pauses for three days in central Gaza.
The initial pauses in fighting will begin Sunday and will last from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to Rik Peeperkorn, orld Health Organization’s representative for the West Bank and Gaza.
The United Nations Children’s Fund earlier this week delivered 1.2 million doses of polio vaccines to Gaza. Health officials are targeting 640,000 children under age 10 who will receive two rounds of oral polio vaccine, with the second dose given four weeks after the first.
An Israeli official confirmed that polio vaccinations will begin in Gaza on September 1.
Each phase of the vaccination campaign is expected to take around seven hours, and during those hours, the vaccines will be able to enter the area on “pause” and be distributed. Reports said.
A member of Hamas’ political bureau, said the militant group welcomed the push for a pause in Gaza to implement the vaccination drive.
Since the war, Gaza’s near-universal polio vaccine coverage has dropped to just over 80%.
Polio has been largely eradicated around the world due to vaccination drives, but it remains a hazard in some regions.
The WHO represetative warned that the three-day periods “might not be enough to achieve adequate vaccination,” adding that it “has been agreed, when needed, the campaign will be extended by one day per zone, or even more when necessary.”
