A polio vaccination campaign is under way in Gaza – while medics claimed at least 49 people were killed in Israeli strikes ahead of the rollout.

The UN, relying on daily eight-hour pauses in fighting between Israel and Hamas, is aiming to vaccinate 640,000 children in the territory.

Healthcare workers in Gaza have warned of a potential polio outbreak for months and last week a baby was partially paralysed by type 2 polio, the first case there in 25 years.

Officials at the World Health Organisation say at least 90% of children need to be vaccinated twice in four weeks against the virus, which spreads through faecal matter.

After 11 months of Israeli bombardment, Gaza has been largely destroyed, with deputy health minister Dr Yousef abu al Rish describing sewage running through crowded tent camps.

“If the international community truly wants this campaign to succeed, it should call for a ceasefire, knowing that this virus does not stop, and can reach anywhere,” he said.

On Saturday, medics administered vaccines on some of the children at Nasser Hospital wards in a symbolic move before the official campaign began.

But medics in Nuseirat, one of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, said separate Israeli strikes killed at least 19 people, including nine members of the same family.

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More than 30 other people were killed in a series of strikes in other areas of Gaza, they added.

Meanwhile in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces pushed on with a military operation in the city of Jenin, where drones and helicopters circled overhead.

The current war was sparked on 7 October, when Hamas-led militants crossed into southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people and abducted around 250.

Read more:
‘Alarming’ signs suggests Israel’s long-term Gaza presence
Israeli strikes in West Bank ‘kill at least 10’ as city ‘sealed off’

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Israel’s subsequent assault on the Hamas-run enclave has since killed more than 40,600 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, though the figure does not differentiate between militants and civilians.

Nearly the entire Gaza population of 2.3 million has been displaced and the enclave has a hunger crisis.

Israel faces genocide allegations at the World Court, which it has denied.

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