Middle East crisis: Gaza polio vaccine campaign under fire

Gaza: Health teams under attack

The northern Gaza polio vaccine campaign began Saturday and is scheduled to continue through Monday, with UN agencies and partners fanning out across the ravaged north during agreed upon humanitarian pauses to ensure safety for civilians and aid workers.

The goal is to reach more than 100,000 children with the final vaccine dose to ensure that the paralysing virus does not spread across the Strip or the region. Eradicated 25 years ago, polio resurfaced earlier this year as the ongoing war in Gaza devastated health conditions and services.

This weekend, amid unparalleled operational and security challenges, more than 58,600 children received a second polio vaccine dose on Saturday, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) operating in Israeli-occupied Gaza reported.

Those challenges continued Sunday as the year-long war continued in Gaza, with the latest death toll surpassing 43,000 people since the 7 October 2023 deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel triggered the conflict.

“This has already been a deadly weekend of attacks in north Gaza,” UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said in a statement issued late Saturday.

‘Beyond time to end this war’

In the past 48 hours alone, Ms. Russell said that over 50 children have reportedly been killed in Jabalia, where strikes leveled two residential buildings sheltering hundreds of people, and a polio vaccine centre in northern Gaza was also hit, injuring six people, including four children.

In addition, she said the “personal vehicle of a UNICEF staff member working on the polio vaccination campaign came under fire by what we believe to be a quadcopter while driving through Jabalia-Elnazla”, damaging the car but leaving the staff member uninjured.

“The attacks on Jabalia, the vaccination clinic and the UNICEF staff member are yet further examples of the grave consequences of the indiscriminate strikes on civilians in the Gaza Strip,” she said, asking Israel for an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the attack on a UN agency staff member and that actions are taken to hold accountable those found responsible.

“UNICEF also calls on Member States to use their influence to ensure respect for international law, prioritising the protection of children,” she said. “It is beyond time to end this war.”

UN agencies and partners launched a campaign in September to deliver polio vaccines to 640,000 children throughout Gaza.

Second year without school

The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said on Sunday that children are now losing a second year of schooling due to the ongoing devastating war in Gaza.

The agency, which serves 5.9 million Palestine refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, faces a ban by Israel, whose parliament adopted two laws last week that could end UNRWA’s critical efforts across Palestinian territory occupied by Israel – Gaza and the West Bank.

Mr. Lazzarini recalled that children and their education are not featured in any discussions when “experts” or politicians talk about replacing UNRWA.

“In the absence of a functioning state, there is no alternative [to UNRWA],” he said in a social media post. “Until October last year, UNRWA provided learning to over 300,000 boys and girls in Gaza. In the West Bank, nearly 50,000 children go to our schools.”

‘Millions of lives will hang by a thread’

UNRWA is the only UN agency that directly provides education in UN schools, he said, noting that “our schools are the only education system in the region that includes a human rights programme and that follows United Nations standards and values.”

“Dismantling UNRWA in the absence of a viable alternative will deprive Palestinian children of learning in the foreseeable future, the UN agency chief said, adding that without learning, children “slip into hopelesness, poverty and radicalisation”.

“Without UNRWA, the fate of millions of people will hang by the thread,” he continued. “Instead of focusing on banning UNRWA or finding alternatives, the focus should be on reaching an agreement to end this conflict. This is the only way to prioritise the return to school for hundreds of thousands of children, currently living in the rubble. It’s time to prioritise children and their future.”

Lebanon: Civilians bear brunt of airstrikes

Continued bombing in Lebanon is being reported by UN agencies on the ground on Sunday.

The UN humanitarian coordination office, OCHA, said the country is facing “a humanitarian crisis as relentless attacks take a devastating toll”.

Civilians are bearing the brunt of the escalating violence, OCHA said on Sunday, which added that growing needs require more contributions to help partners save lives.

UN agencies have been delivering support to civilians. Since late September, it has distributed, among other things, 4.4 million meals, 121,500 food parcels and 1.4 million litres of bottled water to conflict-affected populations.

Efforts also included the delivery of 447,000 litres of fuel to water pumping stations so they can continue to operate.

Find out more details on the situation in Lebanon and the UN response in OCHA’s latest flash update here.

Syria: Border influx from Lebanon

As the war grinds on in Lebanon, the UN refugee agency reported on a developing and dire situation unfolding on the border with Syria, where thousands of people are arriving as they flee to seek safety amid constant Israeli airstrikes.

“Our teams at the Syria-Lebanon borders continue to report a very desperate situation,” UNHCR said in a social media post on Sunday.

More than 71 per cent of arrivals to Syria are Syrian, according to UNHCR.

“Many tell us they sold the little they had to afford the journey back home,” said the UN agency, which is offering assistance.

UNHCR teams are now operating at the border, providing emergency relief, including food and water.

The teams are also offering legal assistance and transportation services to the most vulnerable.

However, the needs are enormous, and more funding is needed, UNCHR said.

Find out more about the UN agency’s work in Syria here.

Yemen: New water ‘lifeline’ launched

The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), in partnership with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), has launched a vital water project on Sunday.

The $2.25 million project aims to improve sanitation services for over 185,000 people in Ma’rib, including communities hosting large numbers of internally displaced persons.

The 12-month initiative aims to provide essential sanitation and hygiene support through enhanced facilities and strengthened local waste management capacity, fostering safer, healthier living conditions and building long-term resilience for communities heavily impacted by Yemen’s ongoing conflict, according to Abdusattor Esoev, IOM’s chief of mission in the country.

“This project is a lifeline for the people of Ma’rib, who are facing some of Yemen’s most challenging conditions,” he said.

“With hundreds of thousands struggling to access basic sanitation, this initiative provides immediate relief while laying the groundwork for lasting, community-led solutions, he said.

As the area with Yemen’s largest concentration of displaced people, Ma’rib has become Yemen’s largest host of internally displaced persons, sheltering nearly 1.6 million people who have fled conflict, insecurity, and deteriorating living conditions across the country. Once a governorate of 350,000 people, Ma’rib’s population has now surged to over two million, placing an immense strain on its infrastructure and basic services.

“By providing critical support, we are not only meeting urgent needs but also helping communities regain a sense of dignity, safety, and stability,” IOM’s Mr. Esoev said.

The site at Al Jufainah alone, Yemen’s largest displacement settlement, hosts more than 73,000 people, many of whom rely on external aid to meet their most basic needs.