The World Health Organization has announced plans to vaccinate more than 40,000 children in the Gaza Strip as health teams take advantage of the ongoing ceasefire.
According to the agency, over 10,000 children under the age of three have already been vaccinated during the first eight days of the campaign, which began on November 9.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the first phase of the programme has been extended until Saturday to allow health workers reach more families. He explained that the vaccines being administered protect children against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, polio, rotavirus and pneumonia.
The next stages of the campaign, to be conducted with UNICEF, UNRWA and Gaza’s health ministry, are scheduled for December and January. The WHO said the collaboration is aimed at restoring essential health services and supporting the gradual rebuilding of Gaza’s devastated health system.
Tedros noted that he was encouraged by the continued calm, saying the ceasefire has allowed health workers to move more freely and provide humanitarian assistance across communities that have been heavily affected by the conflict.
The Security Council had earlier endorsed the plan that facilitated the ceasefire reached on October 10 between Israel and Hamas. Despite the truce, there have been isolated incidents of violence in Gaza, which has suffered severe destruction after more than two years of hostilities triggered by the deadly Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.
Official records show that the Hamas assault resulted in 1,221 deaths on the Israeli side, mostly civilians. Gaza’s health ministry says more than 69,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory operations, noting that more than half of the victims are women and minors.
