Polio vaccine campaign begins in Gaza a day before an expected pause in fighting

Gaza’s Health Ministry says it has begun a campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus. It starts a day before the large-scale vaccine rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the U.N. World Health Organization. Health workers aim to administer vaccines to some 650,000 Palestinian children. The campaign comes after the first polio case in 25 years in Gaza was discovered this month in a 10-month-old. Meanwhile, Palestinians in both the Hamas-governed enclave and the occupied West Bank are reeling from Israel’s ongoing military offensives.