Agencies
UNITED NATIONS
The Israeli military and Hamas have agreed to three separate, zoned three-day pauses in fighting in the Gaza Strip to allow for the vaccination of some 640,000 children against polio, a senior WHO official said on Thursday.
The vaccination campaign is due to start on Sunday, said Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s senior official for the Palestinian territories. He said the agreement was for the pauses to take place between 6 am and 3 pm (0300-1200 GMT).
Described as “humanitarian pauses” that will last three days in different areas of the war-ravaged territory, the vaccination campaign will start Sunday in central Gaza, said Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization representative in the Palestinian territories.
Hamas welcomes the UN request for a humanitarian pause in the war in Gaza to implement a polio vaccination campaign, Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters on Thursday, adding that the group is ready to cooperate with international organizations.
That will be followed by another three-day pause in southern Gaza and then another in northern Gaza. He thinks they might need additional days to complete the vaccinations.
Peeperkorn says they aim to vaccinate 640,000 children under 10 and that the campaign has been coordinated with Israeli authorities.
