RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Health Ministry in Gaza late on Monday announced that nearly 159,000 children received polio vaccination in the central area of the Gaza Strip.

"Medical teams were able to vaccinate 158,992 children within two days of the start of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza," the Health Ministry said in a statement.

It added that there was a high turnout by the citizens on the second day of the campaign in Gaza's central area.

According to medical teams supervising the vaccination campaign at centers in Deir al-Balah, signs of fatigue and malnutrition were observed in hundreds of children who received vaccinations due to the difficult conditions they are living through amid the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip for nearly 11 months.

The urgency of the campaign was underscored by the confirmation of Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years in a 10-month-old child last month.

On Aug. 16, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a seven-day humanitarian cease-fire to allow the vaccination of 640,000 children, a request that was supported by UNRWA.

The polio vaccination campaign is taking place against the backdrop of Israel's continued military attacks in Gaza, which have resulted in over 40,700 Palestinian deaths and more than 94,000 injuries since Oct. 7 last year.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar

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