WHO: Israel accepts a daily ceasefire in Gaza for population vaccination

2024-08-30 16:20:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Humanitarian officials announced that Israel will allow a daily cessation of hostilities in Gaza to allow vaccination of a portion of the population in Gaza against polio. As Voice of America correspondent Anita Powell reports, the outbreak of the dangerous contagious virus is an alarming development in the Gaza region, where the conflict that has been going on for more than 10 months has destroyed a large part of the civilian infrastructure.

The 9-hour humanitarian pause will begin on Sunday and continue for three days in a row to allow vaccination of some 640,000 children under the age of 10, a World Health Organization official told reporters on Thursday.

More than 1.2 million doses of oral polio vaccine have already been sent to Gaza, and more than 400,000 more are on the way.

"I am not saying that this is the best solution, but I believe it is a good step. Not taking any action would be really bad, we must not allow this virus to spread further in Gaza and we must avoid its spread outside the region," said Rik Peeperkorn from the World Health Organization.

He said medical teams will begin vaccination in central Gaza and after three days it will be assessed whether more time is needed for the campaign. After that, the doctors will go to the south and finally to the north of the region. In each area, 3 to 5 days are needed to carry out the vaccination.

The first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years was reported last month.

This is the one affected by the virus. His name is Abdulrahman.

“He's not able to sit still or walk like he used to, my son could walk everywhere. He is almost a year old now and generally children this age should be able to walk. But Abdulrahman can no longer. He used to walk, now he doesn't," says Nevie Abu El-Jedian, Abdulrahman's mother

Abdulrahmani is Nevi's only son.

Polio can cause incurable paralysis in children and is spread from person to person, mainly through feces, but also through contaminated food and water, a major problem due to the destruction of Gaza's water and sanitation network. The virus can be easily prevented through vaccination.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told VOA on Wednesday that his country "will support any campaign to send vaccines to Gaza."

VOA asked the White House if it can help with this humanitarian pause. Officials from President Biden's administration said they were "deeply concerned" and "committed to doing everything possible to support the efforts of the United Nations."

A United Nations humanitarian official noted how dire the situation is.

"It forces us to ask what has happened to our basic sense of being human," said Joyce Msuya of the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs.

The vaccination campaign represents a rare moment of reconciliation in the fierce conflict, where negotiations to end the war have been going on for months, because this situation, of children sick with the virus, is unacceptable./ Voa Albanian