Israel opens humanitarian corridor for polio vaccinations in Gaza
An Israeli-facilitated polio vaccination campaign in Gaza began on Sunday.
Palestinian children are vaccinated against polio at a United Nations healthcare centre in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Sept. 1, 2024. Photos by Majdi Fathi/TPS-IL
The inoculation drive is being led by the World Health Organization and the embattled United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and aims to deliver medicine to more than 600,000 children across Gaza.
Israel confirmed that over 1.2 million doses were brought into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing and that the campaign would continue through Sept. 9.
Israel is allowing a humanitarian corridor through which vaccination personnel may pass. Designated safe areas have been established for administering the vaccines during certain hours. Children receiving the drops are supposed to receive a follow-up dose after four weeks.
Polio is a highly contagious virus that is usually caught by ingesting contaminated water or food. Severe cases can lead to paralysis, respiratory problems and death. Many countries have eradicated polio, but the virus festers in situations of poor sanitation and sewage control.
Israel’s Health Ministry in July found evidence of poliovirus type 2 in two sewage samples from the Gaza area, which it said were consistent with test results from the World Health Organization in Egypt.
Israeli soldiers are already receiving booster shots.
However, the inoculation campaign has raised concerns among right-wing Israeli lawmakers.
“We are told that the whole event will last a total of three days, but already from the investigation I conducted, they intend to extend it for at least a week, if not more,” tweeted MK Yulia Malinovsky.
“The estimate of 1.5 million polio vaccines is also wrong because the numbers are completely different. The population of Gaza was well treated before the war and most of them had already received one vaccine and we only need to talk about those who did not receive a second dose and those who were born at the outbreak of the war,” she added.
The UNRWA, which supports Palestinian refugees, has been under fire for months. Israeli officials have demanded the agency be stripped of its authority in Gaza and defunded amid revelations that members of the agency’s staff participated in Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
The Israeli government is bypassing UNRWA in distributing humanitarian aid and the Knesset is advancing legislation to designate the agency as a “terror organization,” stripping the agency of its diplomatic immunity, tax-exempt status, and other legal benefits.
More than 100 survivors of Hamas’s October 7 attacks filed a $1 billion lawsuit against UNRWA in June, accusing the agency of “aiding and abetting” the terror group.
Israel’s largest bank froze UNRWA’s account in February over suspicious financial transfers that the agency failed to adequately explain. That same month, Israeli forces discovered a Hamas complex located directly under the UNRWA’s Gaza City headquarters and connected directly to the agency’s electricity system. The facility included numerous computer servers belonging to the terror group.
Palestinian refugees are the only refugee population with its own dedicated.UN agency. The rest of the world’s refugees fall under the mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Israeli officials have called for UNRWA to be closed and for Palestinian refugees to be brought under the responsibility of the UNHCR.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
