The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday of a high risk of the polio virus spreading throughout and around the Gaza Strip due to the dire health situation and the deterioration of the sewage system in the war-stricken Palestinian enclave.
Ayadil Saparbekov, head of the WHO’s health emergency team in Gaza and the West Bank, stated that vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 was detected in wastewater samples from Gaza. Speaking to journalists in Geneva via video link from Jerusalem, he said: “There is a serious risk of the spread of the vaccine-derived poliovirus in Gaza, not only because of its discovery but also due to the very dire water sanitation situation.” He added: “It may also spread internationally, at a complicated stage.”
Saparbekov mentioned that teams from the WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are scheduled to arrive in Gaza on Thursday to collect human stool samples as part of efforts to assess the risks related to the virus’s discovery. He hopes the assessment, expected to be completed by the end of this week, will allow health officials to issue recommendations, including the need for a large-scale vaccination campaign, the type of vaccine to be used, and the age group that must be vaccinated.
In a related context, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that Israeli forces carried out eight attacks in the Strip within 24 hours, resulting in 84 deaths and 329 injuries. This raises the toll of the Israeli aggression to 39,090 dead and 90,147 injured since 7 October 2023.
On the ground, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), said that it targeted 105 D-9 Israeli occupation bulldozers with an Al-Yassin shell, near Al-Zalal Mosque, east of the city of Khan Yunis.
The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, said that it, in conjunction with the forces of the martyr Omar Al-Qassem, bombed gatherings of Israeli occupation soldiers on the supply line in the Netzarim axis.
