Second phase of polio vaccination campaign begins in southern Gaza: UN

A child receives a dose of the polio vaccine in Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sept. 5, 2024. The second phase of administering polio vaccinations to children under 10 years of age got underway in Gaza's southern zone, UN humanitarians said on Thursday. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The second phase of administering polio vaccinations to children under 10 years of age got underway in Gaza's southern zone, UN humanitarians said on Thursday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the first phase of polio vaccinations in central Gaza was completed on Wednesday, with 187,000 children vaccinated, well more than the target of 156,000 vaccinations.

The third and final phase is slated for northern Gaza, following the campaign in the south. Humanitarians hope to reach a total of 640,000 children. After four weeks, a second round of oral doses will be administered to complete the campaign touched off when a 10-month-old was diagnosed with the disease.

"Sigrid Kaag, the senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, visited the Gaza Strip earlier today (Thursday) to see firsthand the polio vaccination efforts that are taking place as we speak," Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told a regular briefing with reporters.

Dujarric said Kaag visited the training center at Khan Younis, where the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees, known as UNRWA, rebuilt a logistics base. She also stopped at a Japanese health clinic where UNRWA administers polio vaccinations.

OCHA said that despite the challenges faced, the world body and other humanitarian organizations continue to do everything possible to provide life-saving aid to Palestinians.

Between Aug. 19 and the end of the month, humanitarians cooked 450,000 meals in 130 kitchens daily for families across the Gaza Strip.

"The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains beyond catastrophic and we still do not have all the conditions necessary to support people near the scale that they actually need," the office said. "The cooked meals provided represent a 35 percent decrease, compared with up to 700,000 meals provided at more than 200 kitchens in July."

OCHA said the decrease was in part attributed to multiple evacuation orders issued by the Israeli security forces, with at least 70 kitchens forced to suspend cooked meal provision or relocate.

"Similarly, our partners tell us that more than 1 million people did not receive any food rations in August in southern and central Gaza through humanitarian means," the office said. "Partners lack sufficient food stocks to meet requirements for the second consecutive month and will only be able to provide one food parcel to families in central and southern Gaza during the September distribution cycle."

Humanitarians said hostilities, insecurity, damaged roads, the breakdown of law and order, and access limitations resulted in critical shortages of aid commodities to sustain operations, increasing the risk of spoilage and infestation of food supplies due to high temperatures.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that 11 months into the war, international media crews have still been banned from entering Gaza to report on the humanitarian impact.

OCHA said that on the West Bank, Israeli forces continue to utilize lethal war-like tactics, including airstrikes, in Jenin, Tubas and Tulkarm. The attacks have resulted in additional fatalities and injuries, and more roads and infrastructure destroyed or damaged.

"Medical facilities have been virtually besieged for over a week now, with heavy restrictions imposed on the movement of ambulances and medical staff," the office said, warning that the action is "deepening people's humanitarian needs as well as insecurity and raises concerns over excessive use of force."

A child receives a dose of the polio vaccine in Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sept. 5, 2024. The second phase of administering polio vaccinations to children under 10 years of age got underway in Gaza's southern zone, UN humanitarians said on Thursday. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

A child receives a dose of the polio vaccine in Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sept. 5, 2024. The second phase of administering polio vaccinations to children under 10 years of age got underway in Gaza's southern zone, UN humanitarians said on Thursday. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)