UN begins Gaza polio vaccine campaign as strikes continue and West Bank remains on edge
Doctors in Gaza concluded a 10-month-old baby had been paralysed by a mutated strain of polio after not being vaccinated due to the war
A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus began on Saturday as Palestinians in both the Hamas-governed coastal enclave and in the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel’s ongoing campaigns in both regions.
Children in Gaza began receiving vaccines on Saturday, Gaza’s Health Ministry announced in a news conference, a day before the large-scale roll-out and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the United Nations World Health Organization.
Journalists saw roughly 10 infants receiving doses of vaccine in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis on Saturday afternoon.
Hours earlier, Gaza’s Health Ministry said hospitals received 89 dead on Saturday, including 26 who died in an overnight Israeli bombardment, and 205 wounded – one of the highest daily tallies in months.
Meanwhile, parts of the West Bank remained on edge on Saturday as Israel’s military continued its military campaign, the deadliest since the Israel-Gaza war began, and two car bombings by Palestinian militants near Israeli settlements left three soldiers injured.
Two car bombs exploded early on Saturday in Gush Etzion, a bloc of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Israel’s military killed both Palestinian attackers after the bombs exploded in a compound in Karmei Zur and at a gas station, Israel’s military said. Three Israeli soldiers sustained minor injuries.