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Gaza has become an epidemic area that may eventually spill out to neighboring countries, the director of Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital in Khan Yunis, Marwan al-Hams, announced in a statement to Al Mayadeen.

He stated that the war on Gaza by "Israel" is not only preventing medical teams from moving and reaching the displaced, but the possibility of vaccinating the children has become almost non-existent.

He urged the world to help stop the spread of polio in Gaza which would subsequently stop its spread to neighboring countries. 

Speaking to Al Mayadeen, Dr. al-Hams held the occupation responsible for the spread of the epidemic, as a result of its ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip, alongside the war of human extermination it is waging against the Palestinians after destroying the infrastructure and bulldozing sewage drains, which led to the flow of sewage water between the tents of the displaced.

The Israeli aggression also resulted in the lack of potable water and personal hygiene necessities, according to the doctor who attributed the shortages to the siege imposed by the occupation on the Strip.

Al-Hams designated the Gaza Strip an "epidemic zone", warning all countries in the region, including Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and "Israel", of the spread of polio in them if the occupation does not stop its war on the Gaza Strip right now.

The Gaza doctor confirmed to Al Mayadeen that the occupation obstructed the entry of polio vaccines into the Gaza Strip and obstructed the work of medical teams by preventing them from working among the displaced, thus hindering the efforts of the health sector in Gaza to carry out a campaign to vaccinate 600,000 children under the age of ten.

Most notably, the director of the hospital revealed that the Israeli occupation deliberately bombed centers designed for freezing embryos in Gaza and eliminated all sperm.

Read more: 'Israel' after every form of life in Gaza, destroys 4,000 IVF embryos

"The Israeli occupation has banned the entry of all vaccines into #Gaza. Preventing a polio outbreak in the Strip is crucial to stop it from spreading to neighboring countries."

- Marwan al-Hams, the director of Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital in Khan Younis, to #AlMayadeen https://t.co/WJRKrL4t0D

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) August 17, 2024

This statement comes mere hours after the Health Ministry in Gaza reported the first incidence of poliovirus in the Gaza Strip's southern governorates.

According to a press statement, the instance involves a 10-month-old infant who has not received any vaccination for polio in the city of Deir al-Balah after the newborn exhibited symptoms identical to those of polio as suspected by doctors. Tests in Amman indicated that the infant had contracted a type of vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV).

The Ministry confirmed that it would launch a critical polio vaccination campaign in the coming days aimed at children under the age of ten, noting that 1,200,000 type 2 polio vaccine doses had been secured in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Work is underway to secure an additional 400,000 doses, it maintained.

The international community and health organizations are being urged to intervene urgently to stop the aggression and address the immediate healthcare needs of Gaza's population. International bodies are also called to take action to restore safe water and wastewater systems, manage waste disposal, ensure fuel for water pumping, and facilitate the unrestricted entry of medical and hygiene supplies into the Strip.

The UN has already raised the alarm on the matter, as its organizations called for two seven-day breaks in the war on Gaza in order to vaccinate over 640,000 children against polio, which has been found in wastewater.

Read more: UN seeks Gaza truces, albeit brief, for children polio vaccination

The UN's health and children's organizations announced they had a plan to reach Palestinian children throughout the war-torn Strip, beginning later this month.

The World Health Organization and UNICEF, however, stated that this would necessitate a ceasefire. 

The number of cases of malnutrition among children in northern Gaza rose by almost 300% in July as compared to May, a report released last week by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) revealed.

Detected malnutrition cases among children in northern Gaza increased by more than 300% in July compared with May, says @GNCGENEVA.

96% of Gaza’s population faces crisis levels of hunger, according to @theIPCinfo. Gaza needs more aid and a #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/Pc382sW7Wr

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 8, 2024

It stated that 96% of Gaza's population suffers from crisis levels of hunger, citing data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) and the Global Nutrition Cluster.