The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday it aims to vaccinate more than 40,000 children in the Gaza Strip, leveraging a recent ceasefire to expand health services.
Since the campaign began on November 9, WHO and its partners have already vaccinated over 10,000 children under three years old during an initial phase. According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Phase One has been extended through Saturday to protect children against diseases including measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, polio, rotavirus, and pneumonia.
Future phases (Phase Two and Three) are scheduled for December and January. These will be conducted in partnership with UNICEF, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and the Gaza health ministry, which is under Hamas control.
Tedros said he was “encouraged” that the ceasefire continues to hold, allowing WHO and its partners to restore critical health services and reconstruct Gaza’s collapsed health system.
The current truce was enabled by a US-led plan and was formally endorsed by the UN Security Council earlier this week. Though the ceasefire has reduced some hostilities, reports indicate sporadic violence persists in the territory devastated by more than two years of warfare.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 69,500 Palestinians have died since the start of the conflict in October 2023, with children and women accounting for a large proportion of the casualties.
