Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza

Israeli strikes yesterday killed at least 48 people in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health authorities said, as clashes took place in central and southern areas of the enclave ahead of the planned start of a polio vaccination campaign.

The United Nations is due to start vaccinating some 640 000 children in the territory against polio, relying on daily eight-hour pauses in fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in specific areas of the besieged enclave.

Yousef Abu Al-Reesh, Gaza’s deputy minister of health, said vaccination teams would try to get to as many areas as possible to ensure wide coverage but he said only a comprehensive ceasefire could guarantee enough children are reached.

“If the international community truly wants this campaign to succeed, it should call for a ceasefire, knowing that this virus does not stop, and can reach anywhere,” he told reporters at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.

Frequent evacuation orders affect UN humanitarian aid operations in Gaza:

Yesterday, medics administered vaccines to some of the children at Nasser Hospital wards in a symbolic move before the official campaign begins.

The campaign follows confirmation last week that a baby was partially paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.

WHO officials say at least 90% of the children need to be vaccinated twice with four weeks between doses for the campaign to succeed, but it faces huge challenges in Gaza, which has been largely destroyed by nearly 11 months of war.

Yesterday, as more than 2 000 medical and community workers prepared for the start of the campaign, medics in Nuseirat, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, said separate Israeli strikes killed at least 19 people, including nine members of the same family.