The World Health Organization and UNICEF have appealed for ‘humanitarian pauses’ in the grinding Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip in August and September to facilitate a massive polio booster campaign – as three suspected polio cases were being investigated by a Jordanian laboratory.

The appeal came as the entire region see-saws between the possibility of a regional war between Iran, the Lebanese Hizbullah and Israel, and an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza. 

Israeli and Hamas negotiators are meeting in Doha today in a last ditch effort mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, to find acceptable terms for a ceasefire that could help avert a wider war and lead to the release of some or all of the 116 Israeli hostages now held by the Islamic Hamas for over 10 months. 

But irregardless of that outcome, humanitarian pauses of at least seven days are needed to enable the mass administration of oral polio vaccine boosters to some 640,000 Gaza children, WHO and UNICEF said, in a joint statement on Friday. 

“WHO and UNICEF request all parties to the conflict to implement humanitarian pauses in the Gaza Strip for seven days to allow for two rounds of vaccination campaigns to take place. These pauses in fighting would allow children and families to safely reach health facilities and community outreach workers to get to children who cannot access health facilities for polio vaccination. Without the humanitarian pauses, the delivery of the campaign will not be possible.” 

Three children suspected of polio paralysis

Vaccine-derived poliovirus, which can spread through faeces and infect under-immunized children thus exposed, was detected in July 2024 in sewage samples in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, as well as in Deir al-Balah, further north. More worrisome, three children presenting polio-related symptoms of suspected acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), were recently reported in the Gaza Strip, WHO revealed:

“Their stool samples have been sent for testing to the Jordan National Polio Laboratory.”

Over 1.6 million doses of the novel oral polio vaccine, nOPV2, which is used to stop vaccine derived poliovirus transmission (cVDPV2) in under-immunized populations, is due to be delivered to the Gaza Strip via Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, WHO further revealed. 

Vaccine deliveries via Israel’s international airport

“The deliveries of the vaccines and the cold chain equipment are expected to transit through Ben Gurion Airport before arriving in the Gaza Strip by the end of August,” WHO and UNICEF stated, stressing that, “it is essential that the transport of the vaccines and cold chain is facilitated at every step of the journey to ensure their timely reception, clearance and ultimately delivery in time for the campaign.” 

“At least 95% vaccination coverage during each round of the campaign is needed to prevent the spread of polio and reduce the risk of its re-emergence, given the severely disrupted health, water and sanitation systems in the Gaza Strip,” the joint statement further said. 

“Other requirements for successful campaign delivery include sufficient cash, fuel and functional telecommunication networks to reach communities with information about the campaign,” it added. Currently, Israel and Hamas forces continue to battle across various parts of the 365 square kilometer enclave on the Mediterranean sea sandwiched between the Egyptian border and pre-1967 Israel.     

Polio is a sign of broader infectious disease crisis

The Gaza Strip has been polio-free for the last 25 years, WHO noted, with vaccine rates of 95% or more.  Israel withdrew from the enclave in 2005; two years later, Hamas seized power from the Palestinian Authority, which was violently ejected from Gaza. Israel re-occupied Gaza shortly after the Hamas invasion of Israeli communities along the enclave perimeter on the early morning of 7 October 2023, which led to the deaths of some 1200 men, women and children – as well as the capture of another 240 Israelis and foreign residents. 

Israel has been waging a bitter battle against the Islamic group ever since, cutting off access to Gaza from Egypt, but it has not succeeded in crushing the organization entirely.  Some 40,000 Gazans have since died during the fighting, while tens of thousands more people are wounded.  Amidst a sanitation catastrophe including the destruction of drinking water and waste management facilities, infectious diseases have run rampant in the enclave – exacerbated by heat, hunger and malnutrition. 

Polio’s re-emergence, “which the humanitarian community has warned about for the last ten months, represents yet another threat to the children in the Gaza Strip and neighbouring countries.  A ceasefire is the only way to ensure public health security in the Gaza Strip and the region,” said WHO and UNICEF.   

Image Credits: @WHOoPT.