A baby receives the polio vaccine during an immunization campaign in Gaza. Photo courtesy UNICEF
The effort is part of a plan to vaccinate more than 40,000 children against multiple diseases, taking advantage of the recent ceasefire in Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said phase one of the programme has been extended until Saturday and hopes to protect children against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, polio, rotavirus and pneumonia.
Phases two and three of the campaign, which is being conducted in collaboration with UNICEF, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and Gaza's health ministry, are planned for December and January.
The WHO chief said he was "encouraged to see that the ceasefire continues to hold, as it allows the WHO and its partners to intensify essential health services across Gaza and support the necessary re-equipment and reconstruction of its devastated health system".
The UN Security Council voted on Monday to endorse the plan of U.S. President Donald Trump, which facilitated the establishment of a ceasefire on 10 October that brought a halt to Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, despite continued violations by Israeli forces.
A total of 25 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in a series of Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Civil Defense, updating an earlier count of 10.
The latest deaths bring the toll to at least 280, with more than 670 injured, in nearly 400 Israeli violations recorded by the enclave’s Government Media Office since the 10 October ceasefire brokered by the United States.
Since Israel's genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, Israeli forces have killed nearly 70,000 Palestinians and injured more than 170,000, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Short link: