JERUSALEM: Israel has started vaccinating its troops in Gaza against polio and supplying vaccines for the Palestinian population after health agencies said the virus has been found in the territory, the military said on Sunday.
Army authorities have begun “a broad vaccination operation for all ground troops, both regular and reserves,” said a military statement.
The army did not give a figure for the number of soldiers involved, but thousands of regular and reservist troops are reported to be fighting in the war, which has raged since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
The statement said the order was given after the army carried out sample tests in Gaza, where most of the population is displaced. The war has decimated health and sanitary infrastructure.
UN agencies said this week that the Global Polio Laboratory Network found type-2 poliovirus in six environmental samples collected on June 23.
Israel’s Health Ministry said it had made similar findings. No human cases have been reported.
The Israeli army said it was also working with other organizations to take vaccines for the Gaza population into the territory. It said that 300,000 vaccines have so far been supplied.
The highly contagious virus is caught by drinking contaminated water or oral contact. It can cause paralysis and, in extreme cases, death.
Wastewater runs between tents in many camps for the displaced, and freshwater is increasingly scarce.
With fuel limited, aid agencies rarely send out trucks with water, and pumps at wells cannot be used.
Many people walk long distances to get safe water from points set up by volunteers.
Northern Gaza is suffering particularly badly from food and water shortages after major Israeli offensives.
Ahmed Al-Shanbari, a father living in a camp in Jabalia, said the water his family has “is not suitable for drinking or cooking.”
“My children suffer from kidney disease, jaundice, itching and coughing. There is no treatment in northern Gaza,” he said.
Shanbari said the family spends four hours each day searching for a source of water.
The military said it had decided with the Health Ministry “that troops operating in the area should undergo vaccination against the virus to maintain the health of both the soldiers and Israeli citizens.”
It said vaccinations would be carried out as troops are “refreshed” in and out of Gaza.
There are about 170,000 full- time soldiers and another 300,000 reservists in the Israeli army.
