Israel attributes six children injured at a Gaza vaccination center to a bomb by “terrorist groups”

MADRID 3 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Israeli Armed Forces reported this Sunday that the explosion that injured six children at a polio vaccination center in the Gaza Strip on Saturday was due to a “bomb by terrorist groups.”

“A bomb belonging to terrorist organizations exploded near a humanitarian convoy evacuating patients and caused damage to the hospital and injuries to six children who were there,” the Israeli Army explained in a statement.

The explosive would have been detonated, according to the Israeli version, when a convoy was passing by to transport patients and deliver humanitarian aid and medical supplies. “The explosion caused shrapnel to hit the patio and roof of the center and the convoy vehicles parked near it. There are no victims among the members of the convoy,” he indicated.

After the incident, the Coordination and Liaison Headquarters for Gaza with the Palestinian Authority contacted the World Health Organization (WHO), which had reported the injuries, and “clarified that this is the result of actions by terrorist organizations, which systematically use civil institutions and in particular hospitals for terrorist purposes”.

“The Israel Defense Forces will continue to act in accordance with international law to transfer humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, particularly in the health field,” they stressed.

On Saturday, the WHO reported six minors injured at the Sheikh Raduan primary care center in northern Gaza, which “was attacked today (Saturday) while families were bringing their children to receive the vital polio vaccine in a area in which there is a humanitarian pause in force to allow vaccination,” denounced the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The head of the WHO has indicated that there are “six people injured, including four children” and has stressed that a WHO team was at the scene just moments before the attack.

This Friday, the third phase of the polio vaccination campaign began in the northern Gaza Strip, after its postponement last week due to the intensification of attacks by Israel.

In August, the WHO confirmed a case of polio in a ten-month-old baby in the center of the Palestinian enclave in the midst of the Israeli offensive, the first case of this type confirmed in the Gaza Strip for 25 years. Poliovirus was detected in environmental samples in Khan Yunis and Deir el-Balah.

Israel’s offensive against Gaza was launched after the attacks carried out on October 7, 2023 against Israel, which left about 1,200 dead and nearly 250 kidnapped, according to Israeli authorities. Since then, more than 43,300 Palestinians have died, as the Gazan authorities have indicated, in addition to more than 750 Palestinians killed at the hands of Israeli security forces and in attacks carried out by settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since that date. .