Around 159,000 children get polio vaccination in Gaza: Health Ministry

Nearly 159,000 children have received polio vaccination in the central area of Gaza, the Health Ministry in the besieged Palestinian enclave said.

"Medical teams were able to vaccinate 158,992 children within two days of the start of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza," the Health Ministry said in a statement late on Monday.

It added that there was a high turnout by the citizens on the second day of the campaign in Gaza's central area.

According to medical teams supervising the vaccination campaign at centres in Deir al Balah, signs of fatigue and malnutrition were observed in hundreds of children who received vaccinations due to the difficult conditions they are living through amid the ongoing Israeli war on the enclave for nearly 11 months.

The urgency of the campaign was underscored by the confirmation of Gaza's first polio case in 25 years in a 10-month-old child last month.

On August 16, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a seven-day humanitarian ceasefire to allow the vaccination of 640,000 children, a request that was supported by UNRWA.

The polio vaccination campaign is taking place against the backdrop of Israel's continued military attacks in Gaza, which have resulted in over 40,700 Palestinian deaths and more than 94,000 injuries since October 7 last year.