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UN officials are preparing to launch Polio vaccination Israel is set to launch a military operation in the Gaza Strip on Sunday that will rely on a series of limited pauses in fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants besieged in the Strip.
The World Health Organization says at least 90 percent of children in Gaza need to be vaccinated for the campaign to succeed, but it faces huge challenges in the Palestinian enclave, which has been nearly devastated by the pandemic. 11 Months of War.
The World Health Organization said on August 23 that a baby Paralysis due to polio virus type 2It was the first case of its kind in the region in 25 years and the UN agency called for urgent vaccination.
WHO officials said Friday that some 1.2 million doses of vaccine had arrived in Gaza ahead of the vaccination campaign, which aims to vaccinate more than 640,000 children. Another 400,000 doses are on their way to the region, said Rick Piepelkorn, the WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territories.
The planned ceasefire is unrelated to the negotiations that have been ongoing for months to reach a deal to stop the fighting in Gaza and allow the return of Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
COGAT, the Israeli body responsible for coordinating administrative affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, said the suspension was part of a series of humanitarian pauses that have been regularly implemented since Israel began its military operation in the Gaza Strip in October last year.
Hamas also agreed to the suspension, which the United Nations said was necessary for the vaccination campaign to begin. A second round of vaccinations will be needed after the first round is completed.
WHO said the Israeli military and Hamas had agreed to a three-day pause in fighting in three separate areas to allow the U.N. agency to coordinate with the Palestinian Ministry of Health to carry out the first round of vaccinations.
More than 2,180 staff members have been trained to provide vaccinations and information about the campaign to the people of Gaza.
The pause will last for three days, from 6am to 3pm (03:00-12:00 GMT), starting in central Gaza before moving to southern and northern Gaza. However, WHO officials said each round of operations may require an extra day due to the logistical and security challenges of the operation.
According to the World Health Organization, most of Gaza’s hospitals have been damaged or destroyed, with only 17 of the region’s 36 hospitals partially functioning and less than half of the 132 primary health centers still functioning.
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