Meanwhile, parts of the West Bank remained on alert as the Israeli military continued its large-scale military campaign, the deadliest since the war between Israel and Hamas began (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A campaign has been launched to inoculate Gaza children against polio and prevent the spread of the virus, the health ministry said, as Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled enclave and the occupied West Bank reel from Israel’s military offensives.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said in a brief statement late Saturday that it had located several bodies during fighting in Gaza. The army was trying to identify the bodies, including whether they were hostages, but said the process would take several hours. “We ask that you refrain from spreading rumors,” it said. There were no further details.
A small number of children in Gaza received vaccine doses on Saturday, a day before the wide-scale rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed by Israel and the U.N.’s World Health Organization.
“A ceasefire is needed so that the teams can reach all the recipients of this campaign,” said Dr Yousef Abu Al-Rish, Gaza’s deputy health minister, describing scenes of sewage running through crowded tent camps. Polio is transmitted through faeces.
Associated Press journalists saw about 10 children receiving doses at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
I was scared and waiting for the vaccine to arrive and for everyone to get it, said Amal Shaheen, whose daughter received a dose.
In its first statement on the campaign, Israel said the vaccination program would continue until Sept. 9 and last eight hours daily. It is expected to suspend some operations in Gaza to allow health workers to administer vaccines with the goal of reaching some 640,000 Palestinian children.
The vaccination campaign comes after the first case of polio in 25 years was discovered in Gaza this month. Doctors concluded that a 10-month-old baby had been partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus after not being vaccinated because of the fighting. Most people who contract the disease experience no symptoms, and those who do usually recover within a week or so. But there is no cure.
Health workers in Gaza have been warning for months of the possibility of a polio outbreak. The territory’s humanitarian crisis has worsened during the war that erupted after Hamas-led militants swept into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping about 250. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which did not say how many were militants.
The ministry said hospitals received 89 dead on Saturday, including 26 killed in an overnight Israeli bombardment, and 205 wounded, one of the highest daily tolls in months.
Meanwhile, parts of the West Bank remained on alert as the Israeli army continued its large-scale military campaign, the deadliest since the war between Israel and Hamas began.
Two car bombs exploded in Gush Etzion, an Israeli settlement bloc. The Israeli military killed the two attackers after explosions at a Karmei Tzur compound and a gas station, the Israeli military said. The military later said one soldier was killed Saturday during operational activities in Jenin, without giving further details, and another was seriously wounded.
Hamas did not claim the attackers were its fighters, but called the operation “heroic.” The militant group said earlier this month after an attack in Tel Aviv that it would continue such attacks.
Israel continued its large-scale incursion, which included destruction of infrastructure, airstrikes and shootings, into urban refugee camps in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem. The Israeli incursion began on Tuesday and has raised alarm among the international community over the possibility of the war spreading beyond Gaza.
Medical group Doctors Without Borders said in a statement it was alarmed by the scale and intensity of Israel’s incursion, saying Israeli forces had obstructed access to health facilities and blocked and even attacked ambulances.
The Israeli military said Saturday that 23 militants had been killed since the raid, including 14 in the Jenin area.
Some people fled Jenin. Oroba al-Shalabi, who was holding a baby in her arms, said Israeli gunfire had hit her windows.
“We started shouting that we had small children, but they (the Israeli soldiers) did not respond at first. The more we shouted, the more they shot at the house, smashing the television and windows around us,” he said.
The family huddled in their kitchen until the soldiers came in, she said, separating the women and children from the men and checking everyone’s phones before letting her flee.
Israel has described the West Bank operation as a strategy to prevent attacks on Israeli civilians, which have increased during the Gaza war, including near settlements that the international community largely considers illegal. The Palestinian Health Ministry noted a rise in Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israeli forces, with at least 663 in the West Bank since the war began.
In central Gaza, Israeli airstrikes hit a multi-story building housing displaced people in and around Nuseirat, a refugee camp, in Khan Younis and in Gaza City, officials at hospitals in the area said. The Health Ministry announced a new strike on Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City. There were no immediate details and the Israeli military had no comment.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been trying for months to broker a ceasefire that would allow the release of the remaining hostages, but talks have repeatedly stalled as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed total victory over Hamas and the militant group has demanded a lasting ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory.
Israelis gathered again on Saturday night to protest against the government and call for a deal to bring the remaining hostages home.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: September 1, 2024 | 7:13 am IS
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