“Children do not have the luxury of time”: Aid groups, doctors call for urgent ceasefire to avert polio outbreak in Gaza

Gaza (Quds News Network)- A group of 20 aid agencies and 20 medical professionals who have worked in Gaza have joined forces and called for an urgent ceasefire to administer polio vaccines to about 640,000 children under the age of 10 in the war-battered enclave.

The appeal came after health officials confirmed the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years with reports of other suspected cases emerging.

Polio had been eliminated in Gaza more than two decades ago, but last month, the WHO reported that the virus had been found in sewage samples from sites in Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah.

This month, one case was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health in an unvaccinated 10-month-old child in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

The group, including Save the Children, Oxfam, Action Aid and Islamic Relief Worldwide – blamed the reemergence of the poliovirus on Israel’s destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, as well as its restrictions on repairs and supplies.

“Now polio is confirmed, the response needs to be measured in hours, not weeks,” said Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East.

“Without immediate action, an entire generation is at risk of infection, and hundreds of children face paralysis by a highly communicable disease that can be prevented with a simple vaccine,” he said.

The group said polio vaccines are in the region and ready to be distributed in August and September, but this requires full access for humanitarian supplies into Gaza from all border crossings, and safe, unhindered movement within the Strip.

“The health system in Gaza was destroyed long ago,” said Nahed Abu Iyada, CARE West Bank and Gaza’s Health Program Field Officer.

“Without an immediate ceasefire and access to vaccines and humanitarian aid across the Strip, the people of Gaza are facing a public health disaster that will spread and endanger children across the region and beyond.”