Gaza authorities announce start of second round of polio vaccinations

Israeli attacks and siege in north of the enclave raise fears over health campaign

Palestinian children receive a polio vaccination in Deir Al Balah, in central Gaza, on Monday. The second round of the campaign aims to vaccinate 591,700 children in the enclave. AFP

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A second round of the emergency polio vaccination campaign for children in Gaza will begin on Monday, the Wafa news agency quoted Palestinian Health Minister Majid Abu Ramadan as saying.

The campaign aims to vaccinate 591,700 children under the age of 10 across the enclave, Wafa quoted the Gaza Health Ministry as saying. It added that the campaign's success depended on humanitarian truces being established to allow health workers to operate safely and ensure families have access to the vaccines.

The first round of the campaign was conducted in early September, after a child had polio diagnosed in the first case to be reported in Palestine for 25 years. The initiative was carried out in three stages, starting in central Gaza and moving to the south and then the north. Pauses in fighting were announced to allow health workers to give vaccine doses to children.

UN officials said on Friday that an Israeli offensive and displacement orders in northern Gaza could affect the second phase of the campaign.

The Israeli army on Sunday continued its siege of the Jabalia camp for an eighth day and destroyed houses with “explosive robots”, Wafa reported. Israeli forces have started constructing earthen barriers between Gaza city and northern parts of the enclave, making escape from the besieged areas more difficult.

Conditions in the north are worsening, with starvation increasing and food aid blocked from entering the area since October 1. “There might be some flour in north Gaza, but not much beyond that,” said Hani Almadhoun, from the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.

“A lot of people are starving. We have had this for a while but it has gotten worse since October,” he told the BBC.

The death toll from Israel's war on in Gaza has passed 42,200, the enclave's health authorities said. Attacks on Sunday killed at least 52 Palestinians and injured 128.

At least 29 people were killed in overnight air strikes across Gaza, including six children who died in an attack on a house in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Wafa reported. Five children were killed in an air strike in northern Gaza on Sunday, it quoted sources in the area as saying. The children were playing near a cafe in Al Shati area a drone carried out a strike, it added.