By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS, 5th Sept. UN humanitarians warned on Wednesday that the children are blighted by disease and heavily traumatize ongoing was in Gaza despite the success of the mass polio vaccination campaign so far.
Louise Wateridge UNRWA spokesperson said so far we’ve been able to vaccinate 187,000 children and as we’ve been tent to tent and shelter to shelter.”
“The reality is that these vaccinations are happening in the middle of a war zone, while many other diseases, such as hepatitis A, are spreading.”
“Most of the children I’ve seen are covered in skin diseases and rashes, so while we’re doing everything we can to vaccinate for one disease, the inhumane conditions that are causing and spreading these diseases continues.”
Ms. Wateridge described the scene at one health centre where sewage had flooded the surrounding streets, forcing children to avoid the health hazard in order to receive their polio vaccinations.
“People who need everything – in addition to the polio vaccinations, medical supplies, hygiene products and clean water are absolutely critical to stop the spread of disease,” Ms. Wateridge insisted.
“What people need most is a ceasefire and they need it now.”
The final day of vaccinations in the Gaza’s Middle Area which humanitarians say has been a resounding success.
The operation is a joint UN effort with the WHO, the UNICEF, UNRWA and partner NGOs and volunteers.
The families brought their children to vaccinate despite the ongoing war in Gaza a legacy of the enclave’s extremely strong support for vaccinations pre-war.
The aid teams have gone to find vulnerable families and children to ensure that all those under 10 receive their dose.
“It’s been very positive to see children coming out, showing us their little finger with coloured marker pen to proudly display that they’ve received this vaccine,” said Ms. Wateridge.
Some 2,200 health workers will move to southern Gaza to resume their work on Thursday morning.
The agency stated that this is done efforts will turn to the north, before the whole process starts up in four weeks to give the second vaccine to boost protection levels.
The vaccine teams are able to do work with some level of security, thanks to the agreed humanitarian pauses with the Israeli military and Hamas fighters from 8am to 2pm – although the violence has not stopped by any means.
“The pauses are welcomed, but the bombing and the strikes have not stopped…our teams left to vaccinate, surrounded by the sound of strikes,” the UNWRA officer said.
“While I cannot determine the locations of the strikes I can hear around me in the middle area, hearing them is unnerving for children and families as well as health care workers distributing the polio vaccines.”
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child heard Israeli representatives condemn Hamas for the “tragic” toll the war has taken on children.
Israeli ambassador to Geneva, Daniel Meron, told the panel of independent rights experts in a scheduled country review on Tuesday that Hamas was “embedded within the civilian population”, with tunnel shafts located “in children’s bedrooms in Gaza” and under schools, serving as “weapons arsenals and launch sites for rockets”.
“There have been weapons found under cribs. There have been weapons found inside teddy bears, in maternity wards, in hospitals,” he told the committee.
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