Gaza’s Polio Fight Amid Conflict: UN Appeals for Continued Humanitarian Pauses – Highlights of the noon briefing by Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General – 04 September 2024

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Occupied Palestinian Territory

This afternoon, the Security Council of the United Nations will meet at 3 pm to discuss the situation in the Middle East, following a request made in a letter from the Permanent Representative of Israel.

The Under-Secretary-General for Peacebuilding and Political Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, will brief. Also briefing will be Edem Wosornu, the Director of operations for OCHA.

Turning to the situation in Gaza – as you will have seen, the World Health Organization announced today that the first phase of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has now been completed. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization said over 187,000 children under the age of 10 were vaccinated. He added that preparations are underway to roll out the vaccination campaign in south Gaza, which will start tomorrow.

UNICEF said the pause must continue to implement the remaining phases of the campaign – otherwise, we will fail to protect the children of Gaza and place other children at risk.

Also on the health front, the Ministry of Health of Gaza announced earlier this week the completion of the New Emergency Department at the Al Shifa Hospital in the northern part of Gaza. However, health facilities in Gaza continue to be severely affected by the ongoing hostilities, access constraints and lack of supplies, including fuel.

Moving to the West Bank, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the large-scale operations carried out by Israeli forces in the north of the West Bank are continuing. In just one week, many Palestinians civilians were killed, including seven children, making it the highest number of Palestinians killed in a single week in the West Bank since November of last year.

Our humanitarian colleagues remind us that, in the West Bank, Israeli forces must adhere to international law enforcement standards, where lethal force and firearms are a last resort and used only against imminent threats of death or serious injury.  We also want to reiterate that humanitarian access must be allowed and unhindered.

Just a quick update on [UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator] Sigrid Kaag and her activities.

On Monday, she met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer. These meetings took place in Jerusalem.

She raised, among other topics, measures to address the dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza, progress on implementation of the polio vaccination campaign, as well as the rehabilitation of essential services.

On Tuesday, she met Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, and other senior officials of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, with whom she also discussed humanitarian issues and reconstruction of Gaza as well as the need for the Palestinian Authority to resume its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip.