More than 50 children have reportedly died amid escalating violence in Gaza, while the recently restarted polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza is also facing disruption due to ongoing conflict.
According to the UN children’s agency, More than 50 children lost their lives in Jabaliya in the last 48 hoursin the north of Gaza. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said on Sunday that the attacks targeted two residences housing hundreds of people in the past two days.
“This has already been a weekend of deadly attacks in northern Gaza,” Russell said in a statement. he said. Palestinian officials also reported this. Israeli drone strike hits a clinic in the areaSix people, including four children, were injured in the incident where children were vaccinated against polio. The Israeli Army denied responsibility.
The alleged attack occurred on Saturday in northern Gaza, an area surrounded by Israeli forces and largely isolated for a year. Israel has intensified its attacks in the region in recent weeksIt caused the deaths of hundreds of people and the displacement of tens of thousands of people.
Israeli forces repeatedly raided Gaza hospitals throughout the war, alleging that Hamas was using them for militant purposes; Palestinian health officials rejected these accusations. Hamas fighters are also fighting Israeli forces in the north.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, which jointly run the polio vaccine campaign, expressed their concerns about the attack.
“This attack occurred during the humanitarian pause, endangers the inviolability of protecting children’s health and may discourage parents from vaccinating their children,” the WHO statement said.
“Reports of this attack are even more disturbing as the Sheikh Radwan clinic is one of the health points where parents can vaccinate their children,” UNICEF spokeswoman Rosalia Bollen said. “Contrary to the allegations,” Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said. In the first investigation, it was determined that the (Israeli Army) did not attack the area at the specified time..”
Eight dead in Khan Younis
in the south of Gaza on Sunday, Israeli attack He reached a group of people gathered outdoors in an area east of Khan Younis. killed at least eight PalestiniansAccording to emergency services of the Gaza Ministry of Health, they included four children and a woman. The city’s Nasser Hospital, which received most of the bodies, confirmed the figures.
15,000 children under 10 still excluded
A scaled-back campaign to administer the second dose of the polio vaccine began in parts of northern Gaza on Saturday. According to the UN statement, it was postponed from October 23 due to access issues, Israeli bombing, mass evacuation orders and lack of guarantees regarding humanitarian pauses.
The administration of the first dose took place in September across the entire Gaza Strip, including the northern Gaza areas, which are now completely closed. Health officials said the first round of the campaign and the administration of the second dose in central and southern Gaza were successful.
At least 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate areas in northern Gaza towards Gaza City in recent weeks, but you15,000 children under 10 remain in northern townsAccording to the UN, areas such as Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun are inaccessible.
Israeli Army continues ground operation in southern Lebanon
Meanwhile, the Israeli army released the footage on Sunday, it said. Operations continue in southern Lebanon. The army has continued its ground assault on southern Lebanon, which Israel says aims to weaken the militant group Hezbollah, push it away from the border and end more than a year of Hezbollah firing into northern Israel.
More than a million people fled the bombings and much of the south was evacuated. Some experts claim that Israel may be trying to create an unpopulated buffer zoneThis is a strategy he is already implementing along the Gaza border.
Israel announced that it carried out a ground attack in Syria
The Israeli Army announced on Sunday that it carried out a ground raid in Syria and arrested a Syrian citizen involved in Iranian networks. Israel announced that it will send troops to Syria for the first time in the current war. The military did not specify where and when in Syria the raid took place. Syria did not immediately confirm the announcement.
Israel has launched airstrikes in Syria multiple times over the past year, targeting Hezbollah members in Lebanon and officials in Iran, a close ally of both Hezbollah and Syria. However, so far it has not publicly announced any ground operation against Syria.
