“Israeli officials should urgently end the blockade of Gaza and ensure full humanitarian access to prevent a polio outbreak”, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
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| Displaced Palestinians walk next to sewage flowing into the streets of the southern town of Khan Younis in Gaza | July, 2024. Photo: hrw.org |
The Agency which focuses on “exposing #HumanRights abuses around the world” revealed, “after being polio-free for more than 25 years, Palestine has confirmed a polio case in a 10-month-old baby in Gaza”.
According to hrw.org:
Israeli military attacks on healthcare infrastructure and water supplies and ongoing aid obstruction are contributing to a potentially catastrophic polio outbreak in Gaza, Human Rights Watch said today. Polio, which is entirely preventable but spreads fast, particularly among children under 5, can cause disabilities, including paralysis, and death among unvaccinated children.
On August 16, 2024, the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed the first case of polio in an unvaccinated 10-month old child in Gaza. On the same date, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that three children were showing symptoms of acute flaccid paralysis, raising concern that the virus could be spreading among children in Gaza. On August 23, WHO confirmed that the 10-month old child is now paralyzed. The cases are emerging one month after WHO raised the alarm that vaccine-derived poliovirus had been found in Gaza’s wastewater.
Before the case was confirmed on August 16, Palestine had been polio-free for more than 25 years, thanks to a successful childhood vaccination program.
One of Israel’s retaliatory actions against Gaza following a surprise attack on Israel by Hamas on Saturday 7 October, 2023 was to impose a siege which prevented necessities such as food, clean water, medicine, electricity and so on into the city.
However, humanitarian aids have been recently getting into Gaza gradually following intervention by the US and other world leaders.
