‘Positive’ start to polio vaccination rollout in Gaza despite continued fighting

Families queue at vaccination centres on first day of complex campaign to inoculate children against emerging threat

A complex, large-scale vaccination campaign to inoculate children against the newly emerged threat of polio in the Gaza Strip has begun successfully despite ongoing fighting in the territory, according to UN officials and local health authorities.

Infectious conditions such as dysentery, pneumonia and severe skin diseases are affecting more than 150,000 people in Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, amid a dire humanitarian crisis and unsanitary conditions caused by Israel's campaign to annihilate Hamas in the wake of 7 October.