Gaza: Polio could spread unless vaccines reach war-torn north

“It is imperative to stop the polio outbreak in Gaza before more children are paralysed and the virus spreads,” said Louise Wateridge, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA. “The vaccination campaign must be facilitated in the north through the implementation of humanitarian pauses.”

To interrupt transmission, at least 90 per cent of all children in every community and neighbourhood must receive a second inoculation following the relative success of the first round last month.

© UNICEF

A shipment of vaccine doses for Gaza, where UN agencies and partners aim to inoculate more than 640,000 children against polio, which had been eradicated 25 years ago, but reappeared during the war.

Polio vaccine campaign thwarted

The third and final phase of the campaign which was set to start more than 24 hours ago across the north had to be postponed due to the escalating violence, intense bombardment, mass displacement orders, and lack of assured humanitarian pauses.

“The current conditions, including ongoing attacks on civilian infrastructure continue to jeopardise people’s safety and movement in northern Gaza, making it impossible for families to safely bring their children for vaccination and health workers to operate,” Ms. Wateridge said.

The initiative aimed to vaccinate around 120,000 children across the north.

Since the beginning of the second round of the polio campaign on 14 October, 442,855 children under age 10 have been successfully vaccinated in central and south of the Gaza Strip, amounting to 94 per cent of the target in these areas.

‘Nightmare’ rapidly worsening

“The nightmare in northern Gaza is intensifying,” UNRWA’s Ms. Wateridge warned. “For nearly three weeks, we have repeatedly warned that the ongoing military operations are putting tens of thousands of civilians in grave danger.”

More than 400,000 people remain trapped in the north where Israel has intensified its offensive saying that Hamas militants are regrouping there.

The UNRWA spokesperson said people in the north are experiencing extreme suffering with “harrowing levels of death, injury and destruction”.

“Civilians are trapped under rubble, the sick and wounded are going without lifesaving healthcare, families lack food, their homes have been destroyed, they have no shelter and nowhere is safe.”

Gaza deaths being ‘live broadcast’

For three weeks, there has been no food or aid reaching the north, and there are no markets or shops selling food supplies, she said.

The military offensive has also cut off access to the essentials for survival, including water.

UNRWA medical points in the north and its eight water wells in Jabalia are out of service and fuel to run water facilities has been depleted, which has forced people to risk their lives just to find drinking water.

While UNRWA and the World Food Programme (WFP) facilitated the passage of one food convoy into Gaza City on 15 October, the Israeli siege has prevented it from reaching people there for the past three weeks, she said, adding that UNRWA teams are ready to provide services in shelters, but require supplies to do so.

“There is a huge sense of frustration among displaced families in north Gaza due to the horrors they are facing, which they describe as a live broadcast of their death and suffering,” she said. “We are receiving desperate pleas from our colleagues and friends in north Gaza.”

© UNRWA

The war in Gaza has seen an unprecedented number of attacks on UN premises and staff. (file)

Attacks on UNRWA staff, premises

In Gaza, at least 232 UNRWA staff have been killed, over 200 of its premises have been damaged or destroyed and draft legislation in the Israeli Knesset seeks to terminate operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, UN agency’s chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Thursday at a conference held in Paris about the escalating crisis in Lebanon.

“The failure to push back effectively against attempts to intimidate and undermine the United Nations has set a dangerous precedent,” he warned.

Stressing that these attacks are not confined to UNRWA, he said “they are attacks on our common multilateral system.”

“A renewed commitment to multilateralism and our shared values, enshrined in the UN Charter, must guide our response in Lebanon and across the region,” Mr. Lazzarini said.