Gaza: Disease and war stalk children, despite vaccine success
It’s been nearly 11 months since war erupted in the enclave following Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel. Today more than nine in 10 people have been forcibly displaced by the fighting, leaving them vulnerable to hunger, malnutrition and sickness. “So…
UN reports ‘lethal tactics’ by Israeli forces in West Bank
Stéphane Dujarric informed journalists at the regular press briefing in New York that operations have resumed in Tulkarm and continue in Jenin. “The UN has recorded more than two dozen fatalities over the past week, including children,” he said. He…
Gaza: UN humanitarians ahead of polio vaccination target
“We think that we will need another day tomorrow to actually wrap-up the central zone completely,” said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Speaking from Gaza, he explained that day three of the campaign was…
Between fear and hope, Gazans parents line up in their thousands to protect their children from polio
Wael al-Haj Mohammed’s daughter is a child of war. Born the day after the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza between Hamas and Israel forces that began last October, Mr. Mohammed has struggled to get medical care. She is one…
UN officials repeat calls for peace as Gaza polio vaccinations gets underway
Hundreds of Gazan families have been queueing to await the turn of their child to receive a polio vaccination since early Sunday morning, in a campaign designed to stop the resurgence of a virus whose re-emergence has been blamed on…
Health authorities begin large-scale polio vaccinations in war-ravaged Gaza
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies on Sunday began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory that has been ravaged by the…
Israel gives go-ahead for Gaza polio vaccination campaign
Geneva — World Health Organization officials say Israel has given United Nations agencies the go-ahead to start inoculating hundreds of thousands of young Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip against polio. A mass polio vaccination campaign to immunize more than…
Humanitarian pauses in Gaza pave way for polio vaccinations
WHO Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, said that the two-round vaccination campaign is due to begin this Sunday in central Gaza for three days, then move to the southern and northern areas. A second dose…
WHO: Israel agrees to daily pauses in Gaza for polio vaccinations
United Nations — A senior World Health Organization official said Thursday that Israel has agreed to a series of daily nine-hour humanitarian pauses for the duration of a massive polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip, where the first case…
Security Council debates Gaza as WHO announces polio pauses for lifesaving vaccination campaign
The UN Security Council met in emergency session in New York on the continuing crisis in Gaza and the occupied West Bank on Thursday. Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced agreement had been reached with Israel to allow a…