UN postpones polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza amid Israeli assault

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – United Nations agencies have postponed a polio vaccination campaign for Palestinian children in the northern Gaza Strip because of a deadly Israeli onslaught.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Gaza’s Health Ministry and UN partners “were compelled to postpone the polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza” due to the escalating violence, intense bombardment, mass displacement orders, and lack of assured humanitarian pauses.

“It is crucial that the campaign is urgently facilitated in the north through the implementation of the humanitarian pauses, ensuring access for wherever eligible children are located,” it added in a statement.

The Palestinian Health Ministry accused Israel of putting obstacles before the vaccination campaign in northern Gaza.

“These obstacles hinder the implementation of vaccination on time, and deprive children in northern Gaza from their right to receive vaccination,” it added.

The second phase of the polio vaccination campaign began in central Gaza on October 14.

Phase one of the campaign, which concluded on Sept. 12, included over half a million Palestinian children.

The Israeli army has stepped up its massive assault in northern Gaza amid along with a suffocating siege that has left tens of thousands of people without food and water.

The onslaught, which began on October 5, was the latest episode in Israel’s war on Gaza that has killed nearly 42,800 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 100,400 others since October last year.

The Israeli onslaught on Gaza has displaced almost the entire population of the territory. Besides, Israel’s blockades have led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.