The World Health Organisation has revealed that over 161,000 children below age 10 have been given a first vaccine dose against polio virus in central Gaza in the first launch of a UN-led mass vaccination campaign in the embattled Palestinian territory.
The number of children reached in central Gaza during the first two days of the campaign launched on Sunday exceeded expectations, with the WHO initially hoping to reach 156,000 in that period.
Due to the volatile situation in Gaza, it was difficult to ensure that all children are reached by the vaccination campaign, the WHO said.
The organisations also announced that efforts in central Gaza, originally set to last three days, would likely be extended by an additional day.
The UN pressed for the start of a Gaza-wide polio campaign after the first case of polio was recorded in the territory after 25 years.
Experts fear that an outbreak might be imminent as hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people are currently forced to live in cramped living conditions.
Israel and Hamas have agreed to limited daily pauses in fighting from 6 am to 2 pm to allow for the campaign to go ahead, though there were reports of overnight Israeli military strikes on Monday.
According to the UN, it was too dangerous for some families to go to the vaccination centres, and it was also difficult for mobile vaccination teams to reach these families due to the violence.
According to the WHO, more than 90 per cent of children in Gaza need to be reached to prevent an outbreak.
