Israeli airstrikes kill 27 in Gaza as polio vaccination campaign continues

Israeli military strikes killed at least 27 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Friday, doctors said, as health officials resumed vaccinating tens of thousands more children in the enclave against polio.

In Nuseirat, one of eight historic refugee camps in the area, an Israeli airstrike killed two women and two children, while eight other people were killed in two other airstrikes in Gaza City, medics said. The rest were killed in subsequent raids across the enclave, they added.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces battled Hamas in the Gaza City suburb of Zeitoun, where residents said tanks had been operating for more than a week, in the eastern neighborhoods of Khan Younis and in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, where the residents said Israeli forces blew up several houses.

Eleven months into the war, multiple rounds of diplomacy have so far failed to produce a ceasefire agreement to end the conflict and release Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza as well as many Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

The two warring sides continued to blame each other for the fruitless efforts of mediators such as Qatar, Egypt and the United States. The US is preparing to present a new ceasefire proposal to resolve the differences, but prospects for a major breakthrough remain dim as gaps between the sides remain wide.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said it was up to both Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to say yes to the remaining issues in reaching a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Nearly 90 percent of the Gaza ceasefire deal has been agreed, but critical issues remain where there are gaps, including the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, Blinken told a news conference. Israel has said it will not abandon the corridor. Hamas says a deal is not possible unless it is done.

Meanwhile, residents of Khan Younis and displaced families from Rafah continued to flock to medical facilities, bringing their children to be vaccinated against polio. The campaign was launched after the discovery of a case of a one-year-old baby who was partially paralyzed.

POLIO CAMPAIGN TO MOVE TO NORTH GAZA

This was the first known case of the disease in Gaza – one of the most populous places in the world – in 25 years. It has resurfaced as Gaza’s health system has virtually collapsed and many hospitals have been shut down by the war.

The United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said at least 160,000 children received the drops in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, where medical staff began the second phase of the campaign, taking advantage of an Israel-Hamas deal for limited pauses in battles.

“Since 1 September @UNRWA and partners have vaccinated nearly 355,000 children against polio in central and southern Gaza,” UNRWA said in a post on X.

“In the coming days we will continue to develop the polio vaccination campaign with the aim of reaching approximately 640,000 children under 10 years of age with this critical vaccine,” he added.

Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s Director of Communications, hailed the campaign as a very welcome development. He said UNRWA is working with UNICEF, the World Health Organization and local health partners around the clock and in a race against time to vaccinate every child across the Gaza Strip.

“These temporary pauses do not, however, replace our calls for a ceasefire, it is long overdue. It is time to reach an agreement that would bring respite for the people of Gaza, release all hostages and bring a steady flow of trade and humanitarian supplies to Gaza,” Touma told Reuters.

The campaign will move on Sunday to the northern Gaza Strip, which has been the focus of a major Israeli military offensive over the past 11 months. According to the World Health Organization, a second round of vaccinations will be required four weeks after the first round.