Gaza authorities estimate that around 162,000 children have been vaccinated against polio in the southern Gaza Strip

The second phase of the campaign, focused on this area of ​​the enclave, will continue this Friday for the second consecutive day.

September 6 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Authorities in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), have estimated at nearly 161,200 the number of children vaccinated during the first day of the second phase of the polio vaccination campaign, focused on the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

“Medical teams were able to vaccinate 161,188 children on the first day of the second phase of the emergency polio vaccination campaign in the governorates in the southern Gaza Strip,” the Gaza Ministry of Health said.

He also stressed in a statement on his Telegram account that the medical teams “are fully prepared” to continue their work on Friday, and he has therefore asked the population to go to the designated centres so that children can be vaccinated.

The Gaza Health Ministry reported Thursday that the Israeli army was refusing to “coordinate” the entry of medical teams into the area east of Saladin Avenue, which runs north to south through the enclave, as part of the offensive against the enclave following the attacks carried out on October 7 by Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

Hours earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) had confirmed that the first phase had been “successful” in the central area of ​​the enclave. It stated that “vaccination coverage exceeded the estimated target” and called for humanitarian pauses agreed upon in order to carry out the campaign to continue to be respected.

In August, the WHO confirmed a case of polio in a 10-month-old baby in the centre of the Palestinian enclave amid the Israeli offensive, the first such case confirmed in the Gaza Strip in 25 years. The poliovirus was detected in environmental samples from Khan Yunis and Deir el-Balah.