Gaza - New York: Europe and the Arabs

Today, a large-scale vaccination campaign against polio will be launched in the Gaza Strip, led by United Nations agencies, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

The campaign, which consists of two rounds, will start on September 1, 2024, during which two drops of the new oral polio vaccine type 2 will be provided to more than 640,000 children under the age of ten.

The campaign will start in central Gaza first, where 1.2 million doses of the polio vaccine type 2 have been received, as confirmed by Dr. Deepak Kumar, a technical officer at the World Health Organization, who was inspecting with a team from the organization the vials of vaccine stored in storage refrigerators in a UNICEF warehouse in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.

Kumar said: “These doses have been kept in the cold chain and are being transported today, Saturday, to various distribution points in the central region.”
The UN official indicated that there are 400,000 more doses of the vaccine on their way to Gaza soon.
“We are here to assemble the necessary supplies and logistics for the vaccination teams and supervisors, and we will ensure that the necessary supplies are delivered,” said Dr. Dalia Wahidi, a public health officer at the World Health Organization, who was also at the warehouse.

On the eve of the launch of the campaign, the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory condemned the use of unlawful force by Israeli security forces during military operations in the occupied West Bank, and called for an immediate end to the current assault on the Jenin refugee camp.

In a statement issued yesterday, the office said that the ongoing operation by Israeli security forces in the Jenin refugee camp and surrounding parts of the city has resulted in apparently unlawful killings, insecurity for Palestinian residents, and massive destruction of the camp, which is home to some 11,000 Palestinians.

The office explained that at the time of issuing this statement, Israeli security forces had killed 12 Palestinians in Jenin and surrounding areas, including five killed in airstrikes and seven killed by live ammunition. This includes an 83-year-old man, Tawfiq Ahmad Younis Qandil, who was reportedly killed on the night of 30 August.

According to his family, he had left his home in the eastern neighborhood of Jenin to buy some food and was shot by Israeli snipers from the moment he left. His family reported that they were prevented from reaching him for two hours as Israeli forces fired at anything that moved in the area.

Destruction of infrastructure
The human rights office reported that the Israeli military bulldozed roads and extensively destroyed public infrastructure, as well as private homes and a mosque in the eastern neighborhood of the city and Jenin camp.

It added that since the operation began on 28 August, Israeli forces have deployed a large number of armored personnel carriers, bulldozers and snipers, supported by drones and aircraft, and imposed a curfew in the camp and surrounding parts of the city, which have also been cut off from electricity and water supplies. Camp residents, medics and UN staff reported that many families, including children and infants, are trapped in their homes without water and food. The office explained that the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that since the start of the operation, it had been able to evacuate 20 people injured by live ammunition, including an 18-month-old child, in addition to dozens of wounded.
The society was also quoted as saying that Israeli security forces had fired on its ambulances at least four times, and that in one incident on August 30, a doctor and a driver were injured.
Dozens of young men arrested
The Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory said that it had received information that Israeli soldiers were arresting dozens of young Palestinians from their homes and interrogating them, as well as subjecting them to various forms of ill-treatment, including beatings and forcing them to remain outdoors for long hours without food or water, adding that according to reports, many of the detainees were transferred to undisclosed locations.
It also referred to a separate incident in which two Palestinian men were reported killed on the morning of August 31 by Israeli forces in two separate attempts to blow up two cars in the southern West Bank, and that according to Israeli media, three Israeli officers were injured, two of them by Israeli friendly fire.
Serious concerns
The Office stressed that the use of military weapons and tactics by Israeli security forces contributes to the escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank.
It noted that the International Court of Justice recently declared that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is illegal and called on Israel to end this illegal presence as soon as possible.
It reminded Israel of its obligations under the laws of occupation, which oblige it to take steps to ensure the security of the Palestinian population in the occupied Palestinian territory while complying with applicable international human rights standards regarding law enforcement.
It said that the use of military weapons and tactics during law enforcement raises serious concerns of a systematic disregard for the rights of the Palestinian population and contributes to the escalation of violence and insecurity, and that the only way to ensure security for Palestinians and Israelis is to end the occupation.