Approximately 1.2 million vaccine doses have arrived in Gaza, where one infant has already contracted the disease. The UN has stated that it needs a weeklong pause to vaccinate all children in the area.
The UN's ability to function in the besieged Gaza Strip has been severely impacted by Israel’s repeated evacuation orders, which have forced Palestinians into a shrinking “humanitarian zone,” Under Secretary General Gilles Michaud said on Tuesday.
On Monday, UN aid operations in Gaza were suspended after an Israeli order forced Palestinians to evacuate Deir al-Balah, where the UN's operation center is based.
This order came just as the UN was set to begin vaccinating around 640,000 children under the age of 10 against polio, following the first confirmed case of the disease in the enclave in 25 years—a 10-month-old baby who was paralyzed by the type 2 poliovirus.
Aid workers have warned that without a humanitarian pause, the vaccination campaign is unlikely to reach enough children to prevent the spread of the virus.
There are growing concerns that the virus could spread rapidly due to the poor sanitation and overcrowded conditions in Gaza’s camps, which are now home to hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
The UN reported that Israel issued a record 16 evacuation orders in August alone, forcing 12 percent of the enclave’s population to relocate within just a few days.
“Mass evacuation orders are the latest in a long list of unbearable threats to UN and humanitarian personnel,” Michaud said in a statement.
“Like most Palestinians in Gaza, we are running out of safe spaces for our own staff,” he added.
Jonathan Crickx, a spokesperson for UNICEF in the region, told the Guardian that “one thing for sure is that it’s almost impossible to lead a polio vaccination campaign at scale in an active combat zone.”
The Israeli army commanders have not yet agreed to pause the bombing to ensure safe and effective immunization efforts.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated on Monday that Israel’s attacks on healthcare infrastructure and water supplies, along with the ongoing obstruction of aid, are contributing to a “potentially catastrophic polio outbreak” in Gaza.
“If the Israeli government continues to block urgent aid and destroy water and waste management infrastructure, it will facilitate the spread of a disease that has been nearly eradicated globally,” said Julia Bleckner, senior health and human rights researcher at HRW.