How a ceasefire in Gaza could help prevent a deadly outbreak of polio 

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Children under the age of 5, are most at risk from Polio amid the conflict, bottom, which has devastated Gaza’s health system. (AFP/File)
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Children under the age of 5, are most at risk from Polio amid the conflict, bottom, which has devastated Gaza’s health system. (AFP/File)
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Updated 12 August 2024
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How a ceasefire in Gaza could help prevent a deadly outbreak of polio 

  • Overcrowding, destruction of sanitation, and a deteriorating health system have contributed to the reemergence of polio 
  • The WHO has announced plans to send 1.2 million polio vaccines to Gaza after the virus was detected in wastewater

LONDON: More than 1 million children in the Gaza Strip are at risk of contracting type 2 poliovirus, a highly infectious disease that can lead to paralysis and even death, as displacement and the destruction of sanitation infrastructure leaves the population vulnerable to disease.

The World Health Organization has announced plans to send 1.2 million polio vaccines to Gaza after the virus was detected in wastewater samples taken last month from displacement camps in the northern governorates of Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah.

Although no clinical cases of polio have been diagnosed so far, Hanan Balkhy, the WHO’s regional director, warned that the virus could “spread further, including across borders” unless agencies acted quickly to vaccinate the population.




In this photo taken on September 9, 2020, a UNRWA employee provides poliomyeletis vaccine for children at a clinic in Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Health officials have detected poliovirus in Gaza again amid a raging war that has destroyed most of the health centers in the area. (AFP/File)

However, any mass polio immunization campaign in Gaza, targeting 600,000 children under the age of 8, would face a host of challenges, chief among them the absence of a ceasefire which would allow medics to safely access displaced communities.

“We need a ceasefire, even a temporary ceasefire, to successfully undertake these campaigns,” Balkhy said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

Children under the age of 5, and especially infants, are most at risk from polio, as many missed out on the regular vaccination campaigns that had taken place in Gaza before the conflict began on Oct. 7.

The virus, which spreads through contact with the feces, saliva or nasal mucus of an infected individual, attacks nerves in the spinal cord and the brain stem, leading to partial or total paralysis within hours.

It can also immobilize chest muscles, causing trouble breathing, even leading to death.




PAHO/WHO infographic

Polio was eradicated in Europe in 2003 thanks to an effective vaccination campaign. There have been no confirmed cases of paralysis due to polio caught in the UK since 1984.

Wild poliovirus cases have fallen by more than 99 percent since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries to six reported cases in 2021.

Of the three strains of wild poliovirus, type 2 was eradicated in 1999 and type 3 was eradicated in 2020. As of 2022, endemic type 1 remained in just two countries — Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In Gaza, overcrowding, a lack of clean water and hygiene materials, a deteriorating health system, and the destruction of sanitation plants have all contributed to the reemergence of type 2, according to Hamid Jafari, the WHO’s director of polio eradication, speaking at Wednesday’s press briefing.




WHO says overcrowding, a lack of clean water and hygiene materials, a deteriorating health system, and the destruction of sanitation plants have all contributed to the reemergence of polio in Gaza. (AFP)

The UN estimates at least 70 percent of Gaza’s water and sanitation plants, including wastewater treatment facilities and sewage pumping stations, have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the conflict.

In late July, Gaza’s health authority declared the enclave a “polio epidemic zone,” blaming the resurgence of the virus on Israel’s bombing campaign and the ensuing damage this had caused to the healthcare system.

The Israeli military began its bombardment of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. Although the Israeli military insists it does not target civilian infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and utilities have suffered major damage.

The more than 490 attacks on medical facilities and personnel, documented by the UN during the first six months of the conflict alone, have left Gaza’s healthcare system in tatters. Just 16 of Gaza’s 36 health facilities remain partially functioning.

INNUMBERS

1.2 million Polio vaccines the WHO plans to send to Gaza to prevent outbreak.

600,000 Children under the age of 8 to be targeted in vaccination drive.

70% Proportion of Gaza’s sanitation facilities damaged or destroyed.

1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza displaced multiple times since the conflict began.

Three of these facilities are in the north, seven in Gaza City, three in Deir Al-Balah, three in Khan Younis, and none in the southern city of Rafah, according to the US-based nongovernmental organization Physicians for Human Rights.

Javid Abdelmoneim, a medical team leader for Medecins Sans Frontieres, who was working at the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza last month, told the organization “every day in July has been one shock after another.”

Recounting one particularly traumatic incident, he said: “I walked in behind a curtain, and there was a little girl alone, dying by herself. And that’s the outcome of a collapsed health system. A little 8-year-old girl, dying alone on a trolley in the emergency room.

“In a functioning health system, she would have been saved.”




Medical equipment are laid to waste at a hospital in Gaza that had been destroyed by Israeli bombardment. (AFP)

Despite calls from the WHO and other aid bodies for the warring parties in Gaza to allow “absolute freedom of movement” so that medics can roll out a vaccination campaign, the possibility of a ceasefire appears no closer.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for several parts of northern Gaza, including Beit Hanoun, Manshiyya and Sheikh Zayed.

Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army’s spokesperson, posted the evacuation orders on the social media platform X. He instructed the residents of Beit Hanoun to “relocate immediately” to Deir Al-Balah and Zawayda.

“Beit Hanoun area is still considered a dangerous combat zone,” he added.




The constant evacuation of Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip has hampered the rollout of a vaccination campaign. (AP)

Despite assurances that these areas would be treated as safe zones in which civilians could shelter, both Deir Al-Balah and Zawayda have come under regular Israeli attack in recent months.

The UN reported that while nowhere in Gaza is safe, 86 percent of the besieged Palestinian enclave is under Israeli evacuation orders. About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.1 million population have been displaced multiple times since Oct. 7.

“Nowhere is safe. Everywhere is a potential killing zone,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the opening of the UNRWA Pledging Conference on July 12.

The continuous movement of families in Gaza has made it difficult for aid agencies, which are already short of funds and struggling to reach affected populations, to locate and identify unvaccinated children.




In this file photo, a polio patient is fitted for an artificial limb at a rehabilitation center for prosthetics and treating polio in Gaza City. The war in Gaza has hampered the operation of the rehab center. (Getty Images)

The WHO’s polio specialist Jafari warned that the virus could have been circulating in Gaza since September, as the enclave offered “ideal conditions” for its transmission.

Before Oct. 7, polio vaccine coverage in the Occupied Palestinian Territories was estimated at 89 percent, according to the WHO.

Even if the planned 1.2 million vaccines are successfully brought into Gaza, it will be a “huge logistical challenge” to ensure their successful deployment, WHO official Andrea King told the BBC.

The vaccines must be stored within a limited temperature range from the moment they are manufactured until they are administered. Bringing these chilled vaccines into Gaza and keeping them at the required temperature would be a difficult undertaking at the best of times.




With a war going on, bringing chilled vaccines into Gaza and keeping them at the required temperature would be a difficult undertaking at the best of times, say WHO officials. (Getty Images)

The WHO’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that a ceasefire or at least a few days of calm was essential to protect Gaza’s children.

As of July 7, the WHO has recorded a surge in infectious diseases, including 1 million cases of acute respiratory infections, 577,000 of acute watery diarrhea, 107,000 of acute jaundice syndrome, and 12,000 of bloody diarrhea.

It says this is primarily due to a lack of clean drinking water and the destruction of a critical water facility in Rafah, southern Gaza.
 

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At least 10 Hezbollah members wounded in Lebanon after walkie-talkies they were carrying exploded - security sources

Updated 9 sec ago
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At least 10 Hezbollah members wounded in Lebanon after walkie-talkies they were carrying exploded - security sources

At least 10 Hezbollah members wounded in Lebanon after walkie-talkies they were carrying exploded - security sources 


Qatar says Gaza truce mediation efforts ‘ongoing’

Updated 18 min 9 sec ago
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Qatar says Gaza truce mediation efforts ‘ongoing’

  • Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to halt the fighting
  • Recent mediation in Doha and Cairo has been based on a framework laid out in May by US President Joe Biden

DOHA: Qatar’s foreign ministry said Tuesday efforts to forge a Gaza truce were “ongoing,” after several rounds of talks aimed at ending the now 11-month war ended without a breakthrough.
“The efforts are still ongoing and channels of communication remain open... the goals and visits and meetings are ongoing,” ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told reporters.
Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to halt the fighting between Hamas and Israel, apart from a one-week truce beginning in late November.
Recent mediation in Doha and Cairo has been based on a framework laid out in May by US President Joe Biden and a “bridging proposal” presented to the warring parties in August.
The US State Department said Monday Secretary of State Antony Blinken would visit Egypt this week to “discuss ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire,” his tenth trip to the region since the Gaza Strip war began on October 7.
After in-person talks last month in Egypt and Qatar broke up without a final agreement, Washington indicated that mediators were preparing to present another adapted framework for a ceasefire.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday Washington was working “expeditiously” on a new proposal.
Ansari declined to comment Tuesday on whether any further proposal had been relayed to Israel or Hamas.
“When it comes to the possibility of a deal taking place anytime soon, of course we remain hopeful at every juncture,” he said.
“I can’t comment on the prospects of a deal taking place right now but I can tell you that we remain hopeful and we continue with our efforts.”
Hamas said its delegation met Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha last week to discuss a truce and potential hostage and prisoner exchange, again without indicating that any breakthrough had been reached.
Pressure inside Israel for a deal has intensified after authorities announced the deaths of six hostages at the start of September after their bodies were recovered from a Gaza tunnel.
But in the face of the external calls for an agreement, both Israel and Hamas have publicly signalled deeper entrenchment in their negotiating positions.
On Tuesday Israel announced an expansion of its war aims, widening its fight against Hamas in Gaza to focus on Hezbollah along its northern border with Lebanon.
The October 7 attack by Palestinian militants on southern Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,252 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.


Palestinian poll finds big drop in support for Oct 7 attack

Updated 17 September 2024
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Palestinian poll finds big drop in support for Oct 7 attack

  • Poll suggests 57 percent of Gazans think Oct 7 was incorrect decision
  • Slight dip in Hamas support, but group still most popular

RAMALLAH: A majority of Gazans believe Hamas’ decision to launch the Oct. 7 attack on Israel was incorrect, according to a poll published on Tuesday pointing to a big drop in backing for the assault that prompted Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive.
The poll, conducted in early September by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), found that 57 percent of people surveyed in the Gaza Strip said the decision to launch the offensive was incorrect, while 39 percent said it was correct.
It marked the first time since Oct. 7 that a PSR poll found a majority of Gazan respondents judging the decision as incorrect. It was accompanied by a drop in support for the attack in the West Bank, though a majority of 64 percent of respondents there still thought it was the correct decision, the poll found. PSR’s previous poll, conducted in June, showed that 57 percent of respondents in Gaza thought the decision to be correct.
More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military offensive that has laid waste to the Gaza Strip since last October, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Israel launched its assault after the unprecedented Hamas raid which killed 1,200 people and resulted in another 250 being abducted, according to Israeli tallies.
PSR said it surveyed 1,200 people face-to-face, 790 of them in the West Bank and 410 in Gaza, with a 3.5 percent margin of error.
PSR polls since the Oct. 7 attack have consistently shown a majority of respondents in both Gaza and the West Bank to believe the attack was a correct decision, with support generally greater in the West Bank than Gaza.
PSR said the poll released on Tuesday marked the first time since Oct 7. that its findings had shown simultaneously in the West Bank and Gaza a significant drop in the favorability of the attack and in expectations that Hamas will win the current war.
Overall, the poll found a majority of 54 percent of respondents in Gaza and the West Bank thought the decision was correct.
In August, the Israeli military accused Hamas of mounting an effort to falsify the results of PSR polls to falsely show support for Hamas and Oct. 7, though the military said there was no evidence of PSR cooperating with Hamas.
PSR said it had taken the allegation seriously and investigated it. PSR said on Tuesday its analysis of the data did not flag any inconsistencies that would arise when data is arbitrarily altered, and that a review of quality control measures “convinced us that no data manipulation took place.”
Support for Oct. 7 did not necessarily mean support for Hamas or killings or atrocities against civilians, PSR said, adding that “almost 90 percent of the public believes Hamas men did not commit the atrocities depicted in videos taken on that day.”
The poll showed a drop in the number of respondents in Gaza who said they support Hamas to 35 percent from 38 percent. But the Islamist movement remained more popular than Fatah, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, in both in Gaza and the West Bank.


Jordan, Egypt urge end of Israeli hostilities in West Bank

Updated 17 September 2024
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Jordan, Egypt urge end of Israeli hostilities in West Bank

CAIRO: Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi expressed their concerns over the continued Israeli attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, warning of their dangerous consequences.  

The two leaders stressed, during a phone call on Tuesday, the necessity of reaching an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as an immediate step that must be taken to protect the security of the region and prevent the expansion of the conflict, according to state-run Petra news agency.

The two leaders reaffirmed their rejection of any attempts to displace Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

King Abdullah also expressed his appreciation for the efforts made by Egypt to reach a comprehensive truce to end the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.

The two leaders stressed the need to continue supporting the Palestinian people in achieving their full legitimate rights and establishing their independent state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Meanwhile, Jordan will host a coordination meeting on Wednesday for an Arab-Islamic ministerial committee.

The committee is focused on international efforts to halt the ongoing war on Gaza.


Israel says it thwarted Hezbollah plot to kill former defense official

Updated 17 September 2024
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Israel says it thwarted Hezbollah plot to kill former defense official

  • The Shin Bet agency did not name the official
  • The attempted attack was similar to a Hezbollah plot foiled in Tel Aviv a year ago

JERUSALEM: Israel’s domestic security agency said on Tuesday that it had foiled a plot by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior defense official in the coming days.
The Shin Bet agency did not name the official. It said in a statement that it had seized an explosive device attached to a remote detonation system, using a mobile phone and a camera, that Hezbollah had planned to operate from Lebanon.
Shin Bet said the attempted attack was similar to a Hezbollah plot foiled in Tel Aviv a year ago, without giving further details.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire across the Lebanese border since October, in the worst escalation of violence there in two decades.