Polio vaccine campaign begins in Gaza day before expected pause in fighting

JERUSALEM — A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus has begun, the Health Ministry said Saturday.

A small number of children in Gaza received doses a day before the large-scale vaccine rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the U.N. World Health Organization.

“There must be a cease-fire so that the teams can reach everyone targeted by this campaign,” said Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, Gaza’s deputy health minister, describing scenes of sewage running through crowded tent camps. Polio is spread through fecal matter.

Associated Press journalists saw about 10 children receiving doses at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

“I was terrified and waiting for the vaccination to arrive and for everyone to receive it,” said Amal Shaheen, whose daughter received a dose.

In its first statement on the campaign, Israel said the vaccination program would continue through Sept. 9 and last eight hours a day. It is expected to pause some operations in Gaza to allow health workers to administer vaccines with the aim of reaching some 640,000 Palestinian children.

The vaccination campaign comes after the first polio case in 25 years in Gaza was discovered this month. Doctors concluded a 10-month-old had been partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus after not being vaccinated due to fighting. Most people who contract the disease do not experience symptoms, and those who do usually recover in a week or so. But there is no cure.

Healthcare workers in Gaza have warned of the potential for a polio outbreak for months. The territory’s humanitarian crisis has deepened during the war that broke out after Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and abducting around 250. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Meanwhile, parts of the West Bank remained on edge as Israel’s military continued its large-scale military campaign.

Two car bombs exploded in Gush Etzion, a bloc of Israeli settlements. Israel’s military killed both attackers after the explosions in a compound in Karmei Tzur and at a gas station, Israel’s military said. The military later said a soldier died Saturday during “operational activities” in Jenin, without details, and another was severely injured.

Israel’s military on Saturday said 23 terrorists had been killed since the incursion, including 14 in the Jenin area.

Israel has described the West Bank operation as a strategy to prevent attacks on Israeli civilians, which have increased during the war in Gaza.