Gaza parents fear for children as polio threat adds to genocide
5 Min Read
Polio vaccination efforts are expected to face significant challenges following the re-emergence of the disease in the region, as the Israeli war machine has systemically destroyed Gaza's healthcare system.
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Children in Gaza receive their much-needed polio vaccines on September 1, 2024. (X/@DrTedros)
Like many others in Gaza, Eid al-Attar, a teacher from the northern part of the territory, now spends his days struggling to secure enough food and water to keep his family alive.
Forced to be forcibly displaced eight times since the Israeli war on Gaza erupted in October, the 42-year-old has done his best to protect his five children. Now, the Palestinian territory faces a new threat: the highly contagious and potentially deadly polio virus which had again spread due to the Israeli total blockade and systemically destroyed its healthcare system.
“We cannot protect our children. We are exposed to death at any moment due to the constant bombardment and insecurity. And I cannot protect them from diseases either,” he told The Guardian in Deir al-Balah on Sunday as a UN-led vaccination campaign got underway.
“We live in a tent, which does not protect us from anything, there are no medicines, there is garbage everywhere, and the streets are filled with wastewater,” he added.
"Israel’s" bombing campaign in Gaza has decimated the territory’s healthcare system, with 31 of 36 hospitals damaged or destroyed, according to the World Health Organization. About 90% of the 2.3 million people who live in the Gaza Strip have been forcibly displaced from their homes, with the majority living in very overcrowded, unsanitary makeshift camps. Hepatitis, pneumonia and diarrheal diseases such as dysentery, as well as scabies, lice, and debilitating rashes are already rife, the WHO said.
One of healthcare workers’ worst fears was confirmed last week when Gaza recorded its first case of type 2 polio in a quarter century. The contagious disease can cause paralysis and death, particularly in infants and young children.
Polio was eradicated from the Gaza Strip in 1999, but a strain was detected in routine wastewater testing in July. It is believed to have come from an oral polio vaccine, which contains a weakened live virus, and can in rare cases be shed by vaccinated people and evolve into a new, contagious form.
Read next: The Lancet estimates 'Israel' killed up to 186,000 Palestinians in war
Polio resurgence threatens Gaza's children amid genocide
The first case was reported last week in a 10-month-old boy who is now paralyzed in one leg. He had not received any of the routine childhood vaccinations due to the ongoing Israeli carnage. According to the WHO, it is likely that hundreds of other people are already infected but asymptomatic, which poses a significant risk to hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza.
A highly complex vaccination campaign, led by the UN and local health authorities, is now underway to prevent the resurgence of polio in a new generation.
To stop the spread of the disease, at least 90% of Gaza’s 640,000 children under 10 need to be vaccinated with two drops of oral vaccine in two rounds, four weeks apart—a challenging goal in an active war zone where conditions are unpredictable.
Initial reporting for day 1 of the #polio vaccination campaign show over 86,000 children received a vaccine yesterday.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) September 2, 2024
I admire the courage and determination of the families, the vaccinators and the health workers involved in the campaign.
We call on all parties to continue… pic.twitter.com/tenbAYrslk
A temporary pause in fighting from 6 am to 3 pm over the next few days has been reportedly agreed on to allow vaccination teams to visit 160 sites, starting in central Gaza and then moving to more difficult-to-reach areas. However, damaged or destroyed roads hinder the movement of healthcare workers, and aid workers and supplies have been targeted by Israeli bombings.
Last week, "Israel" killed four people in an airstrike that hit the front of a convoy carrying food and fuel to a hospital in Rafah, according to the American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) group.
'We are suffering a lot'
Nabil al-Hasanat, 50, a father of two daughters, ages six and five months, expressed his distress: “We are all suffering a lot. I am glad I can do one thing to protect my children.”
Despite the progress in the polio vaccination campaign, the broader humanitarian crisis persists with no immediate resolution in ceasefire negotiations as "Israel" is seemingly undermining efforts to reach a deal.
Jose Lainez Kafati, a social and behavior change specialist at Unicef Palestine, said as quoted by The Guardian that “Polio is just one of the many problems the children of Gaza are facing.”
He added, “While we have managed to start the polio vaccination, there are other serious problems that are still unattended by the lack of access to aid. The total breakdown of the healthcare system, the almost complete destruction of sanitation and water infrastructure, as well as the living conditions of families who no longer have a home, makes them vulnerable to other disease outbreaks.”
