MSF Blames “Israel” for Polio Outbreak in Gaza

By Staff, Agencies

The aid group Médecins Sans Frontières [MSF], also known as Doctors Without Borders, stressed in a statement on Monday that the resurgence of polio in Gaza is a consequence of the continuous destruction of the infrastructure and health system by the ‘Israeli’ entity”.

Calling for an immediate ceasefire in the besieged strip, the group underlined that “The war has destroyed water and sanitation infrastructure, forced people into unhygienic and appalling living conditions, and disrupted routine vaccinations—perfect conditions for diseases like polio to spread.”

MSF statement came as a polio vaccination campaign has begun in Gaza after “Israel” agreed to eight-hour pauses in its strikes on designated sites in Gaza to allow health workers to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children against polio.

The so-called “humanitarian pauses” began on Sunday in central Gaza and would last for three days.

That will be followed by another similar pause in southern Gaza and then another in northern Gaza.

The campaign aims to vaccinate 640000 children under 10.

MSF described the vaccination campaign as a “positive step”, but stressed that “it is still a drop in the ocean compared to people's critical medical humanitarian needs.”

The aid group also called for “an immediate and sustained ceasefire to ensure people in Gaza have proper access to aid and health care.”

“The campaign and announcement of military pauses during the vaccination campaign should not divert attention from the relentless violence and its impact on the delivery of humanitarian aid,” MSF said, noting that “fewer than half of the hospitals in Gaza [16 of 36] are operational while people’s medical needs are greater than ever.”

The combat pauses came after a 10-month-old baby was partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus that vaccinated people shed in their waste.

According to MSF, its teams are providing logistical and organizational support for Gaza’s Health Ministry and United Nations' vaccination campaign at five health facilities across Dayr al-Balah in central Gaza and Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.