Some 161,000 Gazan children given first polio vaccine dose, WHO says

Over 161,000 children under 10 have been given a first vaccine dose against the polio virus in central Gaza since the launch of a UN-led mass vaccination campaign in the embattled Palestinian territory, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.

The number of children reached in central Gaza during the first two days of the campaign launched on Sunday exceeded expectations, with the WHO initially hoping to reach 156,000 in that period.

But more children than expected were currently living in central Gaza, as many are constantly being displaced amid the fighting, the WHO said.

Tens of thousands of Gazans are repeatedly forced to relocate as Israel continues to target Palestinian militant group Hamas across the Gaza Strip after almost 11 months of war.

Due to the volatile situation in Gaza, it was difficult to ensure that all children are reached by the vaccination campaign, the WHO said, announcing that efforts in central Gaza, originally set to last three days, would likely be extended by an additional day.

The UN pressed for the start of a Gaza-wide polio campaign after the first case of polio was recorded in the territory after 25 years.

Experts fear that an outbreak might be imminent as hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people are currently forced to live in cramped living conditions.

Israel and Hamas have agreed to limited daily pauses in fighting from 6 am to 2 pm (0300 - 1100 GMT) to allow for the campaign to go ahead, though there were reports of overnight Israeli military strikes on Monday.

According to the UN, it was too dangerous for some families to go to the vaccination centres, and it was also difficult for mobile vaccination teams to reach these families due to the violence.