Gaza Strip - September 10, 2024

The polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza began on Tuesday and will run through Thursday, despite the Israeli army's obstruction of a convoy that included vehicles for the polio vaccination campaign, said the World Health Organization (WHO).

UN officials said health workers with the polio vaccination campaign arrived in northern Gaza on Tuesday. The campaign plans to vaccinate 150,000 children during the three-day humanitarian pause in Israeli military operations.

Health officials said that the third phase of the vaccination campaign in northern Gaza is extremely complicated due to restrictions on movement, new evacuation orders for areas with vaccination centers, and fuel shortages.

The families of the Palestinian children waited since early morning at the designated medical centers in order to ensure that their children would receive the vaccination in light of the difficult conditions experienced by the northern areas of the Gaza Strip.

At the same time, many displaced people expressed uncertainty about immunizing their children against diseases, due to the miserable and unsanitary conditions in which the children live and the severe shortage of food supplies in the northern areas of the Gaza Strip.

The mass polio vaccination campaign concluded on Monday in central and southern Gaza, where more than 446,000 children have been vaccinated since the campaign began on Sept 1, according to the WHO. The campaign aims to vaccinate more than 640,000 children under the age of 10 in the Gaza Strip, through two vaccination rounds separated by weeks.

Shotlist:
Gaza Strip - Sept 10, 2024:
1. Various of buildings, people walking;
2. Various of people receiving vaccination;
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Marwan Al-Hamas, director general of hospitals in Gaza Strip:
"The campaign went well today and there was a large turnout from the people. This phase is considered a continuation of the vaccination campaign that took place in the central and southern Gaza Strip. Through the campaign, we aim to reach every Palestinian child under the age of ten, in order to immunize these children against the disease and prevent the spread and outbreak of the disease caused by the Israeli occupation.";
4. Various of people entering vaccination site, receiving vaccination;
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Amira Abu Odeh, displaced person:
"We hope that the vaccination will reduce the severity of the widespread diseases and prevent the transmission of infection from one person to another because we live in very crowded places inside the displacement schools, so we are very happy that they received the vaccination.";
6. Various of people at vaccination site, receiving vaccination, handling procedure.

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