First round of Gaza anti-polio campaign ends, 560,000 children vaccinated

The United Nations and its partners have vaccinated over 560,000 children under 10 against polio in the Gaza Strip, according to UN humanitarians on Friday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the completion of the first round of the emergency vaccination campaign in northern, central and southern Gaza on Thursday.

During the final phase of this first round in northern Gaza, the UN and its partners reached more than 112,000 children with the vaccine over three days.

OCHA stated that the second round of the vaccination campaign is scheduled to begin in about four weeks.

Additionally, a new WHO analysis revealed that as of July 23, 22,500 people injured in Gaza are estimated to have life-changing injuries requiring long-term rehabilitation. These injuries represent a quarter of the total injuries reported by the Ministry of Health during that period.

OCHA reported that this update comes amid the severe deterioration of Gaza's health system, with only 17 of 36 hospitals partially operational. Primary health care and community-level services are frequently suspended or inaccessible due to attacks, insecurity and repeated evacuation orders.

The office also noted that humanitarian partners have been mobilized to assess the needs of those affected by a recent two-day operation by Israeli forces in Tulkarm and Tubas in the West Bank. This operation, which concluded on Thursday, resulted in nearly a dozen reported Palestinian fatalities.

OCHA added that dozens of families were displaced when their homes were damaged during the operation, which involved Israeli air and ground troops and saw exchanges of fire between Palestinians and Israeli forces.

"The use of lethal war-like tactics in these areas of the West Bank has raised concerns over excessive use of force which appear to exceed law enforcement standards," OCHA said.