Palestinians accuse Israel of attacking polio vaccination clinic

Cairo. An Israeli drone strike on a clinic in northern Gaza where children were being vaccinated against polio injured six people, including four children, Palestinian authorities reported. The Israeli military denied any responsibility.

The attack occurred on Saturday in northern Gaza, a region that has been surrounded by Israeli forces and has been virtually isolated for a year. Israel has been carrying out a new offensive in the area in recent weeks, which has claimed the lives of hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands.

At the moment it was not possible to clarify the contradictory versions. Israeli forces have raided hospitals in Gaza repeatedly throughout the war, arguing that they are used by Hamas for militant purposes, accusations that Palestinian health authorities reject. Hamas fighters are also operating in the north, confronting Israeli forces.

Dr. Munir al-Boursh, director general of the Gaza Health Ministry, told The Associated Press that a quadcopter launched an attack on the Sheikh Radwan clinic in Gaza City on Saturday afternoon, just minutes after a United Nations delegation Unidas left the place.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations children’s agency, known as UNICEF, which are carrying out a joint vaccination campaign against polio, expressed concern about reports of an attack.

“The reports of this attack are even more disturbing since the Sheikh Radwan clinic is one of the health centers where parents can vaccinate their children,” denounced Rosalia Bollen, UNICEF spokesperson.

“Today’s attack occurred while the humanitarian pause was still in force, and despite the guarantees given that the pause between 6:00 in the morning and 4:00 in the afternoon would be respected,” he added.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said that “contrary to claims, an initial review determined that the (Israeli army) did not conduct attacks in the area at that specific time.”

In southern Gaza on Sunday, an Israeli strike hit a group of people gathered outdoors in an eastern district of Khan Younis, killing at least eight Palestinians, including four children and a woman, emergency services said. Gaza Ministry of Health. The city’s Nasser Hospital, which received most of the bodies, confirmed the figures.

A scaled-down campaign to administer a second dose of the polio vaccine began Saturday in parts of northern Gaza. The campaign was scheduled to begin on October 23, but was postponed due to lack of access, Israeli bombing and mass evacuation orders, as well as the lack of guarantees for humanitarian pauses, a United Nations statement detailed.

The first dose of the vaccine was administered in September throughout the Palestinian territory, including some areas of northern Gaza that are currently completely isolated. Health authorities noted that the first round of the campaign and the administration of the second dose in central and southern Gaza were successful.

At least 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate some areas of northern Gaza towards Gaza City in recent weeks, but around 15,000 children under the age of 10 remain in northern towns such as Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, which They are inaccessible, according to the UN.

The final phase of the polio vaccination campaign was aimed at giving a second dose of the oral vaccine to about 119,000 children in the north of the territory, the agencies reported, but “achieving this goal is now unlikely due to restrictions on access”.

They claim that 90% of children in each community should be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.

The campaign was launched after the first case of polio was reported in Gaza in 25 years: a 10-month-old child, who lost mobility in one leg. The WHO indicated that the presence of one case of paralysis suggests that there could be hundreds more who have been infected but do not show symptoms.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when militants led by Hamas swept into southern Israel and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped another 250. Israel’s offensive has claimed the lives of more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health authorities, whose count does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but assures that more than half were women and children.