More than 50 children reportedly dead in Gaza as violence disrupts polio vaccination campaign

According to the UN children’s agency, more than 50 children have been reported killed in Jabalia, north of Gaza, in the last 48 hours.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said on Sunday that the attacks targeted two residences housing hundreds of people in the last two days.

“This has already been a weekend of deadly attacks in northern Gaza,” Russell said in a statement. he said.

Palestinian officials also reported that an Israeli drone strike hit a clinic where local children were receiving polio vaccinations, injuring six people, including four children.

The Israeli army denied responsibility.

The alleged attack took place on Saturday in northern Gaza, which is besieged by Israeli forces and has been largely isolated for the past year. Israel has intensified its offensive in recent weeks, killing hundreds of people and displacing tens of thousands.

Israeli forces repeatedly raided hospitals in Gaza throughout the war and claimed that Hamas was using these hospitals for militant purposes, but Palestinian health officials denied these allegations. Hamas fighters are also fighting Israeli forces in the north.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, which jointly run the polio vaccine campaign, expressed concern about the reported strike.

“This attack during the humanitarian pause jeopardizes the sanctity of protecting children’s health and may deter parents from bringing their children for vaccination,” WHO said in a statement. The statement was included.

“Reports of this attack are even more disturbing as the Sheikh Radwan Clinic is one of the health points where parents can get their children vaccinated,” said UNICEF spokeswoman Rosalia Bollen.

Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said, “Contrary to the claims, the initial investigation determined that the Israeli army did not attack the region at the specified time.”

Eight people were killed in Khan Younis

According to the statement made by the emergency services of the Gaza Ministry of Health, an Israeli attack in Southern Gaza on Sunday shot a group of people gathered in the eastern Khan Younis area and killed at least eight Palestinians, including four children and one woman.

The city’s Nasser Hospital, which received most of the bodies, confirmed the figures.

15,000 children under the age of 10 cannot be reached

A scaled-back campaign to administer the second dose of the polio vaccine began in some areas of northern Gaza on Saturday.

According to the UN statement, it was postponed from October 23 due to access problems, Israeli bombings, mass evacuation orders and lack of guarantees regarding humanitarian pauses.

The first dose was administered in the Gaza Strip in September; this includes areas of northern Gaza that are now completely sealed off.

Health officials said the first round of the campaign and the administration of the second dose in central and southern Gaza were successful.

At least 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate from areas in northern Gaza towards Gaza City in the past few weeks, but approximately 15,000 children under the age of 10 remain in inaccessible northern towns, including Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun. According to the UN.

Israeli army’s ground operation in southern Lebanon continues

Meanwhile, the Israeli army released images of ongoing operations in southern Lebanon on Sunday.

According to Israel, the army continued its ground offensive in southern Lebanon with the aim of weakening the Hezbollah militant group, pushing it away from the border and ending Hezbollah’s barrage of northern Israel for more than a year.

More than 1 million people evacuated much of the south, fleeing the bombardment.

Some experts say Israel may aim to create a depopulated buffer zone along its Gaza border, a strategy it has already implemented.

Israel announces ground attack on Syria

The Israeli army said it carried out a ground attack in Syria on Sunday and captured a Syrian citizen who was involved in Iranian networks. Israel announced that it will send troops to Syria for the first time in the current war.

The military did not specify where and when in Syria the raid took place.

Syria did not immediately confirm the announcement.

Israel carried out airstrikes in Syria several times last year, targeting members of Lebanese Hezbollah and officials of both Hezbollah and Syria’s close ally Iran. However, it had not previously publicly announced any ground invasion into Syria.