Gazans need polio vaccines amid ‘deathly cycle’ of hunger, heat and disease, say UN aid agencies

The UN Security Council is due to meet at 3pm local time in New York on the continuing crisis in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Just ahead of the meeting, the World Health Organization (WHO) said agreement had been reached with Israel to allow a mass polio vaccination campaign to get underway through a series of humanitarian pauses to begin on Sunday. For UN New app users, follow live here.

The UN-led mass polio vaccination campaign entered its second day in central Gaza on Monday with pauses in fighting holding sufficiently for thousands more children to receive their dose, in addition to the 87,000 who received their first round on Sunday, UN agencies said. 

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that 161,030 children under 10 have been vaccinated in central Gaza during the first two days of the UN-led mass vaccination campaign, surpassing the initial target of 156,000. The figure amounts to around a quarter of the total population they aim to reach - some 640,000 children.