Polio Vaccine Campaign Begins in Gaza a Day Before Fighting is Expected to Pause

A worker unloads a shipment of polio vaccines provided with support from UNICEF to the Gaza Strip through the Karm Abu Salem crossing, also known as Kerem Shalom, at a depot belonging to Gaza’s health ministry on August 25, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP) (Photo by EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Gaza’s Health Ministry says it has begun a multi-day campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, Israel’s military in a terse announcement says it has “located a number of bodies during combat” in Gaza, with no details, and it asks people not to spread rumors. The vaccinations started a day before the large-scale rollout and limited pauses in the fighting agreed to by Israel and the U.N. World Health Organization. Health workers aim to administer vaccines to some 640,000 Palestinian children. The campaign comes after Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years was discovered in a 10-month-old.