Gaza faces risk of polio spread if vaccination delay continues: UN

An immediate ceasefire is needed in the Gaza Strip as the enclave faces the additional threat of polio spreading, if the final phase of a vaccination campaign there continues to be delayed, a UN agency warned on Thursday.

The third and final phase of the polio vaccination campaign, which was set to begin on Wednesday in Gaza, had to be postponed owing to the escalating violence, intense bombardment, mass displacement orders, and lack of assured humanitarian pauses.

"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."

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 for health workers to operate, Wateridge said.

Since the beginning of the second round of the polio vaccination campaign on 14 October, 442,855 children under 10 have been successfully vaccinated in Gaza, representing 94 per cent of the target in these areas, Xinhua news agency reported.

To interrupt the transmission, at least 90 per cent of all children in every community and neighbourhood need to receive a second vaccination following the first round, including more than 119,000 children across Gaza.

The spokesperson said people in North Gaza are experiencing extreme suffering with "harrowing levels of death, injury and destruction." More than 400,000 people remain trapped in the north where Israel has intensified its offensive against Hamas militants. For three weeks, there has been no food or aid reaching the north, and there are no markets or shops selling food. The military offensive has also cut off access to the essentials for survival, including water.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Thursday that families in Tel Al Zaatar, northeast of the Jabalia refugee camp, as well as west of the camp in Al Faluja, remain trapped and unable to move. Between 50,000 and 70,000 people are estimated to remain in Jabalia.

A request from the UN partners earlier this week to deliver 23,000 litre of fuel to the North Gaza Governorate has been denied by Israeli authorities. The Palestinian Civil Defence said its operations have completely stopped in the governorate, leaving the entire population there without humanitarian rescue services.

Since the Israeli ground offensive in the north began on 6 October, some 63,000 people have been newly displaced from North Gaza Governorate to Gaza City, OCHA estimated.

Meanwhile, Israel's military chief Herzi Halevi has said there's a possibility of "a sharp conclusion" to Israel's ongoing conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to a statement issued by the military. Halevi made the remarks while speaking to commanders of the 162nd Division during a tour of Jabalia on Wednesday. "We thoroughly dismantled Hezbollah's senior chain of command," the military chief claimed on Thursday.

Regarding the southern front in Gaza, Halevi noted that the Israeli offensive in the north of the strip, particularly in Jabalia, "brings us (troops) closer to more achievements".

"Jabalia is falling," Halevi said, calling it "another psychological collapse" for Hamas after the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar last week in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Israeli military's ground operation in Jabalia camp and its surroundings is allegedly aimed at preventing Hamas fighters from regrouping to launch further attacks. Meanwhile, its combat with Hezbollah, a regional ally of Hamas, persists on the northern front, with no sign of abating.