The virus - a type 2 vaccine-derived variant - was first detected last month in sewage samples taken from southern and central Gaza. The majority of the population is now displaced to those two regions, packed into narrower and more squalid strips of land under orders from the Israeli military.
There is sewage and solid waste in the streets, contaminated drinking water, and few places to bathe or even wash hands, residents say. The Israeli campaign, which began after Hamas fighters staged a brutal attack on Israel, included a near-total siege of Gaza, cutting off water and power and severely restricting the entry of food, hygiene kits and medical supplies.
Health authorities have warned for months that the worsening conditions were creating a situation ripe for diseases to spread. The World Health Organisation and other organisations have recorded hundreds of thousands of cases of respiratory illness, watery diarrhoea and hepatitis A since the start of the war.
Before the conflict, 99% of Gaza’s 2.2 million people were vaccinated for polio, a rate that has since dropped to 86%, according to the Who.
“The Gaza Strip has been polio-free for the last 25 years,” the organisation said on Friday in a statement outlining its plan for immunisations.
It said it was preparing for two rounds of vaccinations, with the first launching at the end of August and the second in September, and called on all parties to the conflict to agree to seven-day “humanitarian pauses” to allow the campaigns to proceed.
“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,” the statement said.
The first step is getting the vaccines to Gaza, where aid convoys face long delays at crossings and checkpoints. Roads are damaged and dangerous, and criminal gangs loot supplies for sale in the markets. The Who said more than 1.6 million vaccine doses are expected to transit through Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv before arriving in Gaza later this month.
“It is essential that the transport of the vaccines and cold chain is facilitated at every step of the journey,” it said.
But the threat goes beyond Gaza’s borders and could spread to neighbouring countries. Its reemergence prompted the Israeli military to swiftly offer polio boosters for troops serving in the territory.
The Gaza Health Ministry said the spread “will not stop at the borders of the Gaza Strip, and international institutions and relevant parties must take the necessary measures to prevent its spread inside and outside the Gaza Strip”.
The Israel Defence Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the UN calls for humanitarian pauses.
