Two killed in Gaza City drone attack
The polio vaccination campaign is ongoing in Deir el-Balah. And we can hear loud explosions from other areas in central Gaza. People are coming from distant areas of Deir el-Balah to vaccinate their children. It means they are risking their lives.
In the eastern side of Bureij in central Gaza, a Palestinian man has been killed by artillery bombardment. In Gaza City, two Palestinians have been killed by a drone that targeted a group of people near an amusement park.
There is no respite from Israeli bombardment.
Children in Gaza ‘starving’, their health ‘deteriorating’
As we’ve been reporting, a polio vaccination campaign has been launched in Gaza. Parents are parents taking their children to health centres for the vaccination amid Israeli strikes across the besieged enclave.
“I’ve come here [to a health centre] to have my children vaccinated against polio,” Rehan Farra, a Palestinian parent, said. “I fear for my children as the Gaza Strip is disease-stricken. We live in fear under Israel’s ruthless bombardment, surrounded by nothing but death and destruction.
“Above all, Gaza’s children are starving. In the past, we used to feed them healthy and nutritious food, with lots of protein and vitamins. Now, we are living on the handouts. Even the water we drink is contaminated. My child fell sick on a number of occasions because of the unclean water we drink. Their health is generally deteriorating.”
Two killed in eastern Rafah by Israeli strikes
At least two people have been killed after Israeli forces targeted eastern Rafah’s Abu Halawa area. The casualties come after our earlier report of artillery shelling in central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp, which killed at least one person.
Israeli forces have continued their attacks across Gaza despite the ongoing polio vaccination campaign, committing only to brief, localised pauses in designated vaccination areas.
Israel’s facilitation of vaccine rollout nothing more than ‘PR campaign’
Israel’s move to permit health workers to carry out a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza is merely a “PR campaign” intended to placate its international partners, argues Ibrahim Fraihat, an associate professor of international conflict resolution at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.
Despite the vaccination effort, Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza – interrupted only by brief, localised pauses – continue to put people at risk, Fraihat told Al Jazeera. Israel’s “minimum response” should be an immediate, full ceasefire, said Fraihat, adding that it was “not even doing the minimum”.
“Israel insists on continuing the war and not responding to the health needs of the people that are threatened by the disease.”
Injured Palestinian children rushed to Nasser Hospital
Palestinians wounded by an Israeli attack in southern Gaza’s Mawasi area have been rushed to Nasser Hospital.
Footage shared online, and verified by Al Jazeera, shows several bloodied Palestinians, including children, being carried into the health facility and laying on the floor waiting for treatment.
One young girl cries when asked about her wounds.
