The polio disease has reappeared in the war-torn enclave of Gaza more than two decades after its eradication.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has called for an immediate three-day humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to allow vaccination of the population against the rapidly spreading polio virus.
“I urge an immediate three-day humanitarian ceasefire to allow vaccination by WHO (World Health Organization) and UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), regardless of broader negotiations. Our humanity demands,” said the top diplomat of the bloc in a post on X.
Poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) was first detected in Gaza wastewater samples in July. On August 16, the first confirmed case of polio in the enclave in 25 yearsin a 10-month-old baby who had not been vaccinated.
Poliovirus causes a disease, known as poliomyelitis, which in severe cases can cause irreversible paralysis.
Humanitarian experts say The reappearance of the disease in Gaza is due to the devastating impact of the war, which has interrupted vaccination programs and damaged water and sanitation systems.
The WHO has called on all parties to cease hostilities to allow vaccination campaigns to take place. More than 1.2 million doses arrived in Gaza on Monday, according to the UN, Israel and the Gazan health authorities, with plans to vaccinate more than 640,000 children.
But the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWAwarns that the movement orders of the Israeli authorities They are seriously altering humanitarian orders.
“People have nowhere to go and no way to find safety. There is very limited access to humanitarian resources, because humanitarian operations are also being displaced within these evacuation orders,” said Senior Communications Officer Louise Wateridge. from UNRWA.
La ONG Human Rights Watch states that mass displacement orders, as well as continued attacks on health infrastructure and water supplyare exacerbating the “potentially catastrophic polio outbreak” in the war-torn enclave.
“The rapid spread of polio threatens all children in Gaza, already weakened by displacement, deprivation and malnutrition”Borrell also stated in his statement.
On Thursday, Borrell will convene EU foreign ministers in Brussels for an informal meeting at which the bloc’s response to the Gaza war will be high on the agenda.
The EU has been calling for a humanitarian pause in Gaza since March, but its diplomatic weight has been reduced by the deep divergences between the positions of the Member States regarding the conflict.
