An attack by the Israeli army on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza overnight has killed eight people lining up to receive bread at the entrance of a UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNWRA) school, according to media reports.
The camp, which was left in ruins after an attack in December by Israeli forces left 90 Palestinians dead, is located in the northern Gaza Strip and has been subjected to several attacks since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October last year.
The government-run Palestine News Agency, citing local sources, said the IDF also launched a strike on a group of civilians northwest of Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
The IDF has not yet claimed responsibility for either attack. However, it posted on X that it had killed eight members of Hamas, including commander Ahmed Fozi Nazer Muhammad Wadia, in a strike on the Al-Ahli Hospital compound in Gaza City.
Large-scale polio vaccinations begin across Gaza
The strikes come after Palestinian health authorities and UN agencies began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak.
Gaza reported its first polio case in 25 years in a 10-month-old boy who was later left paralysed in one leg, prompting the World Health Organisation (WHO) to warn that there could be many more cases who are not yet showing symptoms.
Authorities plan to vaccinate children in central Gaza until Wednesday before moving on to the more devastated northern and southern parts of the strip, aiming to reach about 640,000 children.
The WHO has said Israel had agreed to limited pauses in fighting in order to facilitate the campaign, with the pause ending on Sunday afternoon, according to a schedule released by Israel.
Israel has said the vaccination program will continue through 9 September and last eight hours a day.
The vaccination campaign faces challenges, from ongoing fighting to devastated roads and hospitals shut down by the war. Around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced within the besieged territory.
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The vaccinations will be administered at roughly 160 sites across the territory, including medical centres and schools. Children under 10 will receive two drops of oral polio vaccine in two rounds, the second to be administered four weeks after the first.
Israel allowed around 1.3 million doses to be brought into the territory last month, which are now being held in refrigerated storage in a warehouse in Deir al-Balah. Another shipment of 400,000 doses is set to be delivered to Gaza soon.
The US, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that would include an end to the fighting and the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza by Hamas.
However, talks have stalled on a number of sticking points.
