Three days of polio vaccinations are allowed despite 35 Palestinians being killed by Israeli bombings in Gaza

According to Palestinian officials, Israeli forces murdered at least 35 Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday while engaging in a battle against Hamas-led militants. However, medics were able to administer polio vaccinations to children for a third day during brief periods of peace.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service reported that four women were killed in the southern city of Rafah and eight individuals were slain near a hospital in Gaza City in the north.

Medics reported that an Israeli airstrike killed nine Palestinians inside a residence near Omar Al-Mokhtar Street in the heart of Gaza City later on Tuesday.
Another strike occurred in the vicinity of a college in Sheikh Radwan, a northern enclave of the city. According to the Israeli military, the assault was directed at Hamas militants who were operating from a command center that was located within the former Nama College.

Medics reported that additional individuals were slain in distinct air strikes throughout the territory.

At a command center located near the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, the Israeli military claimed to have slain eight Palestinian gunmen, one of whom was a senior Hamas commander who participated in the attacks in Israel on October 7.

According to a statement, Ahmed Fozi Nazer Muhammad Wadia was responsible for a “massacre of civilians” in Israel’s Netiv HaAsara community, which is situated near the Gaza border, and was perpetrated by Hamas terrorists. Hamas did not respond.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s armed branches claimed that they were engaged in combat with Israeli forces in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, as well as in Rafah and Khan Younis in the southern region.

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that it had surpassed its vaccination objectives in Gaza on Tuesday, the third day of a mass campaign, and had vaccinated approximately 25% of children under the age of 10.

Last month’s discovery of the first polio case in a Gazan infant hastened the campaign, which is predicated on daily eight-hour pauses in combat between Israel and Hamas militants in specific regions of the besieged enclave.

Nevertheless, diplomatic endeavors to achieve a permanent armistice, release foreign and Israeli hostages in Gaza, and return a significant number of Palestinians who have been incarcerated by Israel have been unsuccessful.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israeli forces would continue to maintain their presence in the Philadelphi corridor, which is situated on the southern edge of Gaza. This location is one of the primary obstacles to the conclusion of the conflict and the return of hostages.

Hamas, which seeks an agreement to conclude the conflict and remove Israeli forces from the entire Gaza Strip, asserts that this condition, among others, would obstruct a deal. Netanyahu asserts that the conflict can only be resolved upon the eradication of Hamas.

POLIO CAMPAIGN

The United Nations, in partnership with the local health authorities, initiated a multifaceted campaign on the third day to immunize approximately 640,000 children in Gaza against polio.

On Tuesday, the spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres characterized the pauses in fighting to enable the vaccinations as a “rare ray of hope and humanity in the cascade of horror.”

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric stated, “If the parties can act to protect children from a deadly virus…surely they can and must act to protect children and all innocents from the horrors of war.”

Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, informed reporters in Geneva that the organization had vaccinated over 161,000 children under the age of 10 in the central region during the initial two days of its campaign. This figure exceeds the anticipated figure of approximately 150,000.

“Up until now things are going well,” he indicated. “These humanitarian pauses have been effective thus far.” There are still ten days remaining. He stated that negotiations were ongoing to locate certain minors in southern Gaza who were believed to be outside the agreed-upon zone for the pauses.

According to Palestinians, the health system’s collapse and the devastation of the majority of Gaza’s hospitals are significant factors contributing to the resurgence of polio. Israel accuses Hamas of utilizing hospitals for military objectives, a charge that the Islamist organization denies.

According to Israeli tallies, the war in Gaza was initiated by Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel, during which its fighters murdered 1,200 individuals and captured over 250 hostages.

According to the health ministry of the Gaza enclave, over 40,800 Palestinians have been slain since that time.