JERUSALEM, 16 August 2024, (TON) - The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement on Friday that it has detected the first confirmed case of polio in the Gaza strip in the city of Deir Al-Balah for a 10-month-old baby who had not received any polio vaccination dose. UNICEF said poliovirus was detected in environmental samples from Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah in July 2024.

International aid bodies call for a pause in the conflict for make way for a vaccination drive. The Palestinian Health Ministry is being persuaded by UNICEF to work with UNICEF to vaccinate all children under 10 years old in Gaza, approximately more than 640,000 children.

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called the proposal “a must,” noting the “ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.” In an emergency meeting of WHO and UNICEF called for a humanitarian pause in Gaza for 7 days to allow two rounds of polio vaccination to take place, following the recent detection of virus in environmental samples and the identification of three suspected cases of acute flaccid paralysis in children.