‘We cannot protect our children’: parents in Gaza face new threat of polio

Vaccination is likely to be an uphill struggle after re-emergence of the disease in the territory, where war has decimated healthcare

Like so many in Gaza, Eid al-Attar, a teacher from the north of the territory, now spends his days trying to find enough food and water to keep his family alive. Displaced eight times since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October, the 42-year-old has tried his best to shield his five children from the conflict. Now the Palestinian territory is facing a new danger: the highly infectious and potentially deadly disease, polio.

We cannot protect our children. We are exposed to death at any moment due to the constant bombardment and insecurity. And I cannot protect them from diseases either," he said in Deir al-Balah on Sunday as a UN-led vaccination campaign got under way.