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More than 1.2 million doses of the polio vaccine arrived in Gaza on Monday, in preparation for an expansive effort to inoculate more than 640,000 Palestinian children and curb a potential outbreak, the United Nations, Israel and health authorities in Gaza said.
The vaccines landed after the first case of the disease in the territory in 25 years was confirmed earlier this month.
UNICEF, the U.N. children’s fund, said it was delivering the vaccines in cooperation with the World Health Organization, the main U.N. agency that aids Palestinians, UNRWA; and other groups. UNRWA officials said they hoped to deliver the first vaccines to Gazan children starting on Saturday.
But the campaign will be “a very difficult operation and its success will depend very much on the conditions on the ground at the time,” Sam Rose, a senior official from the agency, said at a news briefing on Monday.
The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed that the vaccines had reached Gaza and that preparations to begin the campaign to inoculate children under 10 were underway. It was not immediately clear how quickly the vaccines could be distributed to medical centers in Gaza, particularly after the U.N. said on Monday that its already hamstrung humanitarian operations had been brought to a temporary halt after the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of Deir al-Balah, where the agency has its central operations.
But a senior U.N. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue, said at a briefing on Monday that there was no change to plans to begin polio vaccinations, despite the fact that the temporary pause in the U.N.’s humanitarian mission.
Speaking from Zawaida, in central Gaza, Mr. Rose, of UNRWA, said that more than 3,000 people would be involved in the vaccination campaign, about a third of them from UNRWA. Mobile health teams would help deliver the vaccines to shelters, clinics and schools, but he said a humanitarian pause was needed for parents and children to safely meet aid workers at those sites.
Aid workers “will do our absolute utmost to deliver the campaign because, without it, we know that the conditions will just be worse someday,” Mr. Rose said. “It is not guaranteed that it will be a success.”
For children who contract polio, he added, the prospects of receiving proper treatment remain “incredibly bad” while many of Gaza’s hospitals and health clinics are closed or only partly functioning as a result of the conflict.
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The W.H.O. chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a statement on Thursday that a 10-month-old child in Gaza had contracted polio and had become paralyzed in one leg. The virus was found last month in wastewater samples, but this was the first confirmed case in Gaza in a quarter-century.
At least 95 percent of children in Gaza will need to receive both doses of the vaccine to prevent the spread of the disease and reduce the risk of its re-emergence, according to UNICEF, “given the severely disrupted health, water and sanitation systems in the Gaza Strip.”
UNICEF and the W.H.O. have called on “all parties” in the conflict to put in place a weeklong humanitarian pause in Gaza to allow both rounds of vaccines to be delivered, saying that “without the humanitarian pauses, the delivery of the campaign will not be possible.”
COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry’s agency that oversees policy for the Palestinian territories, said in a statement on Monday that the vaccines had been delivered to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Israel. The agency added that the campaign would be conducted in coordination with the Israeli military “as part of the routine humanitarian pauses” that it observes, which, it said, would allow Palestinians to reach vaccination centers.
In June, Israel announced that it would observe partial daily suspensions of its military activity in some areas of Gaza, calling them humanitarian pauses, saying they were aimed at making it safer for groups to deliver aid in the territory.
The Gazan Health Ministry has warned that inoculations alone will not be effective amid a lack of clean water and personal hygiene supplies in Gaza, as well as issues with sewage and waste collection in overcrowded areas where displaced families were sheltering. It said medical teams would have to spread out across the territory, “which requires an urgent cease-fire.”
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, Anushka Patil and Ephrat Livni contributed reporting.
— Hiba Yazbek reporting from Jerusalem
Key Developments
New Israeli military evacuation orders in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, were followed by an explosion near Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital that “triggered panic” and prompted many people to flee the facility, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders said early Monday. The group, which supports the hospital, said it was considering suspending some services there while trying to maintain lifesaving treatment after the latest evacuation orders issued on Sunday. The Gazan Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday morning that the hospital was still functioning, with nearly 100 patients remaining there out of about 650. The Israeli military said on Monday that its forces were operating on the outskirts of Deir al-Balah and had killed dozens of militants.
A crude oil tanker burning in the Red Sea may lead to “environmental disaster,” Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, said in a statement on Monday. He added that the tanker threatened to “spill a million barrels of oil,” or about four times as much oil as that released in the Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska in 1989. He said the United States was “gravely concerned.” The crew of the Greek-flagged ship targeted last week was rescued, but the ship has been aflame ever since. Mr. Miller called on the Yemen-based Houthis to stop the attacks. The militia group backed by Iran has been striking commercial ships in the Red Sea in allegiance with Hamas in Gaza. Mr. Miller said the attacks showed that the Houthis “are willing to destroy the fishing industry and regional ecosystems” that they rely on for their own livelihoods. On Monday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported that the authorities were investigating another episode off Yemen’s waters.
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Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has extended the tour of the Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier in the Middle East, the Pentagon said on Monday, reflecting the tensions in the region and persistent concern that Iran will retaliate for the assassination of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran.
Mr. Austin decided over the weekend to prolong the Roosevelt’s time in the region, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters on Monday, meaning that the United States will have two carriers and their accompanying warships there in the coming days.
The Pentagon’s decision comes after Israel and Hezbollah fired rockets, missiles and drones at each other over the weekend. Hezbollah had responded to the bombardment of southern Lebanon on Sunday by Israeli military aircraft to stop what Israel said were preparations for a major attack by the Lebanese-based militant group.
John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesman, said, “We’re maintaining a pretty robust force posture there to be able to defend ourselves and defend Israel should it have come to that.”
He called Hezbollah’s attack on Israel over the weekend significant enough to prompt the movement of additional American forces into the region.
“What Hezbollah launched into the early morning hours Sunday was certainly a sizable attack,” Mr. Kirby said, “different in scope than what we tend to see on a daily basis between Israel and Hezbollah. Hopefully, it won’t.”
The carrier Abraham Lincoln arrived recently in the Gulf of Oman, where the Roosevelt has been operating. The Roosevelt had been scheduled to depart this week, but General Ryder declined to say how much longer the ship would remain in the region. Another Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, said it would be about two weeks.
The Pentagon’s move comes even as Israel and Hezbollah appeared to de-escalate after firing rockets, missiles and drones at each other over the weekend, averting a wider Middle East war, at least for now. But General Ryder said the United States must take seriously vows by Iran to avenge the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, last month.
Israel’s military has not commented on the assassination. But Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for the killing, and U.S. intelligence has assessed that Israel was behind it.
“We continue to assess that there is a threat of attack, and we remain well postured to be able to support Israel’s defense, as well as to protect our forces,” General Ryder said.
As part of a coordination between the U.S. and Israeli militaries, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the Israeli military, met with the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., during his visit to Israel this week, the Israeli military said in a statement.
The commanders discussed security, strategic issues and strengthening regional partnerships as part of the response to threats in the Middle East, the statement said.
Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting from Tel Aviv, and Michael D. Shear from Washington.
— Eric Schmitt reporting from Washington
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A day after Israel and Hezbollah traded major cross-border attacks but swiftly moved to contain a bigger war, the focus in the Middle East returned on Monday to the effort to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza, where Israel’s 10-month-long war with Hamas is at the heart of rising regional tensions.
Four days of talks concluded on Sunday with no breakthrough, after senior Israeli and Hamas officials arrived in Cairo to meet with mediators. Despite a full-bore diplomatic push from the Biden administration, the two sides remain far apart on several critical issues, including Israeli demands to retain a military presence along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Both Hamas and Egypt, which is mediating the talks along with Qatar and the United States, oppose those demands.
One U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations, said the senior-level talks in Cairo were constructive, and would continue with working-group discussions in the coming days. Hamas officials, as usual, did not participate in the meetings with Israeli and U.S. officials.
Negotiators in Cairo were working to refine an American proposal presented last week in Doha, Qatar, aimed at bridging key gaps between the two sides. The so-called bridging proposal builds on an earlier framework outlined by President Biden in May, and includes various amendments aimed at resolving the differences between Hamas and Israel, people briefed on the talks have said.
Under the proposal, the first phase would see a six-week cease-fire and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel. People displaced from northern Gaza would be able to return to their homes, many of which lie in ruins. During that time, Israeli forces would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza.
The second phase envisions a permanent cease-fire, while the third consists of a multiyear reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the remains of deceased hostages.
On Thursday, Israeli officials met with those from the United States and Egypt. On Friday, the U.S. and Egyptian teams held a bilateral consultation to strategize ahead of the talks.
Egyptian and Qatari negotiators then met with Hamas to walk through the bridging proposal paragraph by paragraph. The Hamas negotiators highlighted points of disagreement, which were brought to Egyptian, Qatari, American and Israeli negotiators on Sunday.
The technical level discussions are meant to continue this week in Cairo, with the aim of getting to an agreement that can be implemented.
American officials declined to outline the points of disagreement in detail, arguing that negotiating in public could only complicate matters.
But among the most difficult issues remaining, another American official said, is whether Israeli forces will remain on the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, and if so, how many. Israeli officials have reduced their demands in recent days, agreeing to accept a fewer number of checkpoints. But both Egypt and Hamas — which wants a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza — have been skeptical of any Israeli military presence on Gaza’s southern border.
