Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza Worsens While Polio Vaccine Campaign Succeeds

The polio vaccination campaign phase 2, Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. Credit: UNICEF/Eyad El Baba

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 2024 (IPS)

Today, the chief of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, confirmed that the first round of Gaza’s polio vaccination campaign had ended successfully, reaching 90 percent coverage. The second round of this campaign is set to begin by the end of September, delivering Gaza’s children with a critical second dose of the polio vaccine.

Last Friday, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), a unit that oversees Israel’s policies during its occupation in the Gaza Strip, announced that 559,000 children across Gaza had been vaccinated, with extra efforts being put into vaccinating those in the northern regions, which are the most restricted.

Efforts on vaccination have run relatively smoothly thus far, with Lazzarini saying “Parties to the conflict have largely respected the different required “humanitarian pauses” showing that when there is a political will, assistance can be provided without disruption”. Despite this, it is difficult to predict if hostilities will remain dormant for the continued period of humanitarian pause.

Last week, an airstrike on the Al-Mawasi displacement camp left 40 killed and over 60 injured, despite Al-Mawasi being considered a “safe-zone”. This attack not only caused great structural damage to Gaza’s most populated refuge camp but also overwhelmed local medical facilities and aid personnel.

Additionally, on September 11, an airstrike on the Al-Jouni school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat caused 18 casualties, six of which were UNRWA aid workers. This brings the number of aid workers killed in this conflict to approximately 280.

These attacks have impeded efforts at vaccination, damaging critical infrastructures, such as roads, power lines, and water sanitation systems, exacerbating the spread of disease and limiting access to particularly vulnerable areas.

A spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO) states that aid workers “need safe, unimpeded access so they can visit households, markets, transit points, and health facilities to check children for the prominent purple dye marked on their little finger when they are vaccinated. These efforts will provide an independent measure of the percentage of vaccination coverage achieved and reasons for any unvaccinated children”.

The UK Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Barbara Woodward, informed reporters that “mass Israeli evacuation notices and the use of heavy weaponry mean that nowhere is safe in Gaza. We join the Secretary-General’s call for compliance with international law, especially the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution in attacks. We are horrified by the further killing of aid workers”.

Israel’s commitment to a humanitarian pause must be upheld so the polio crisis can be eradicated effectively. These attacks must stop so humanitarian workers can access all areas in the Gaza Strip. The second round of the vaccination campaign will be crucial in ensuring that the outbreak doesn’t spread further.

The WHO states, “Without the humanitarian pauses, the delivery of the campaign will not be possible…At least 95 per cent vaccination coverage during each round of the campaign is needed to prevent the spread of polio and reduce the risk of its re-emergence, given the severely disrupted health, water and sanitation systems in the Gaza Strip”.

Currently, negotiations of a ceasefire, spearheaded by the US, Egypt, and Qatar, are being discussed. However, even if the polio epidemic is eradicated and a ceasefire is achieved, the process of rebuilding Gaza is estimated by experts to be lengthy, difficult, and costly.

A major reason for this is due to the extent of damage done to Gaza’s infrastructure in the duration of this conflict. Nearly 70 percent of Gaza’s buildings have been leveled beyond repair. “There will be an enormous task in helping those in Gaza to rebuild. Early recovery will include clearing unexploded ordinance and rubble and providing essential services”, added Woodward.

Critical infrastructures, such as schools and hospitals, have been destroyed or are unusable due to their use as shelters. This significantly limits essential services such as healthcare, education, access to food and water, and sanitation.

The UN delegate for Sierra Leone emphasized how detrimental the effects of war have been on the Palestinian people, saying that the ongoing war “risks breeding a generation that is traumatized, uneducated, maimed, orphaned, homeless and — more dangerously — aggrieved”.

Additionally, the war has caused a significant economic decline. Aya Jaafar, an economist at the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO), stated, “Gaza has witnessed an almost complete destruction of economic activity in all sectors”.

According to ILO estimates, approximately 200,000 jobs have been lost, equating to 90 percent of the workforce prior to the conflict. Jaafar adds that emergency employment programs and continued humanitarian contributions will be necessary to facilitate a stable environment for Gaza.

Although it is too early to determine how long it will take Gaza to rebuild, Rami Alazzeh of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates, “ it will take decades and the will of the international community to fund tens of billions of dollars of investments to reconstruct Gaza”.

IPS UN Bureau Report