The UN will start a programme on Sunday to vaccinate about 640,000 Palestinian children in Gaza against polio after Israel agreed to periodic pauses in the war that has all but destroyed the territory's healthcare system.
The campaign, aimed at children under the age of 10, will start in central Gaza, with three consecutive daily pauses in fighting. It will then move to the southern part of the strip, where there would be another three-day pause, followed by the north. The pauses in each zone will be extended to a fourth day, which the World Health Organisation has said would likely be needed.
“We seek to vaccinate 90 per cent of the children in Gaza from the age of one to 10,” Magdy Dahir, head of the campaign's technical committee, told reporters at the Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza on Saturday.
The campaign in central Gaza will run from September 1 to 4, then move to the south, including Khan Younis and Rafah, for the next four days and then to the north, including Gaza city, from September 9 to 12.
Teams will be based at the health centres affiliated with the ministry and international organisations, including the UNRWA, in addition to mobile teams that will tour the enclave including the camps of the displaced people, Mr Dahir said. Another round will start on September 17 and will revisit the same areas.
Yousef Abu Al Reesh, Gaza's deputy minister of health, said vaccination teams would try to get to as many areas as possible to ensure wide coverage but he said only a comprehensive ceasefire could guarantee enough children are reached.
"If the international community truly wants this campaign to succeed, it should call for a ceasefire, knowing that this virus does not stop, and can reach anywhere," he told reporters at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
On Saturday, medics administered vaccines on some of the children on Nasser Hospital wards in a symbolic move before the official campaign begins.
The campaign was triggered by the case of a 10-month-old boy who was paralysed by the Type 2 polio virus, the first instance of the disease in Gaza in 25 years. While Israel's military and Hamas have agreed to three separate, zoned three-day pauses in fighting to allow for the first round of vaccinations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the measures were “not a ceasefire”.
Fighting will be paused for at least eight hours on the three consecutive days in each phase. The pauses could be extended for a fourth day in each phase, which the WHO said would likely be needed.
WHO, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees known as the UNRWA, and Unicef, the UN agency for children, will be working together to deliver the polio vaccines. The doses will be given orally by some 2,700 health care workers at medical centres and by mobile teams moving among Gaza's hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the war.
About 1.2 million vaccine doses have been delivered to Gaza ahead of the campaign starting on Sunday, a WHO official said on Friday. About 400,000 additional doses are on the way to the territory, said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territories. The WHO said the presence of a paralysis case indicates there could be hundreds more who have been infected but are not showing symptoms.
Polio is highly infectious and most often spread through sewage and contaminated water – an increasingly common problem in Gaza with much of the territory's infrastructure destroyed by Israel in its war against Hamas. The disease mainly affects children under the age of five. It can cause deformities and paralysis, and can be fatal.
Most people who have polio do not experience symptoms, and those who do usually recover in a week or so. But there is no cure, and when polio causes paralysis it is usually permanent. If the paralysis affects breathing muscles, the disease can be fatal.
The vaccination effort will not be easy: Gaza’s roads are largely destroyed, its hospitals badly damaged and its population spread into isolated pockets. The WHO said that a drop in routine vaccinations in the occupied Palestinian Territories, including Gaza, has contributed to its re-emergence. A successful roll-out requires at least 95 per cent coverage.
Cogat, the Israeli military's humanitarian unit, had said that the vaccination campaign would be conducted in co-ordination with the army “as part of the routine humanitarian pauses that will allow the population to reach the medical centres where the vaccinations will be administered”. A second round is planned in late September.
The Gaza case is seen as a setback for the global polio fight which has driven down cases by more than 99 per cent since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns. Wild polio is now only endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan although more than 30 countries are still listed by the WHO as subject to outbreaks, including Gaza's neighbours Egypt and Israel.
The WHO has warned of the further spread of polio within Gaza and across borders given the poor health and hygiene conditions there.
Euro 2020
Group A: Italy, Switzerland, Wales, Turkey
Group B: Belgium, Russia, Denmark, Finland
Group C: Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria,
Georgia/Kosovo/Belarus/North Macedonia
Group D: England, Croatia, Czech Republic,
Scotland/Israel/Norway/Serbia
Group E: Spain, Poland, Sweden,
N.Ireland/Bosnia/Slovakia/Ireland
Group F: Germany, France, Portugal,
Iceland/Romania/Bulgaria/Hungary
Sreesanth's India bowling career
Tests 27, Wickets 87, Average 37.59, Best 5-40
ODIs 53, Wickets 75, Average 33.44, Best 6-55
T20Is 10, Wickets 7, Average 41.14, Best 2-12
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 2
Suarez (10'), Messi (52')
Real Madrid 2
Ronaldo (14'), Bale (72')
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The bio
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite travel destination: Maldives and south of France
Favourite pastime: Family and friends, meditation, discovering new cuisines
Favourite Movie: Joker (2019). I didn’t like it while I was watching it but then afterwards I loved it. I loved the psychology behind it.
Favourite Author: My father for sure
Favourite Artist: Damien Hurst
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
UAE%20ILT20
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Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 540hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 2,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Kerb weight: 1580kg
Price: From Dh750k
On sale: via special order
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
