The U.N. World Health Organization announced Thursday that there will be limited pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for polio vaccinations for hundreds of thousands of children after a baby contracted the first confirmed case in 25 years in the Palestinian territory.
Described as "humanitarian pauses" that will last three days each in different areas of the war-ravaged territory, the vaccination campaign will start Sunday in central Gaza, said Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization representative in the Palestinian territories.
That will be followed by another three-day pause in southern Gaza and then another in northern Gaza. Peeperkorn says he thinks additional days will be required to complete the vaccinations.
Peeperkorn says the WHO aims to vaccinate 640,000 children under 10 and that the campaign has been coordinated with Israeli authorities.
"I'm not going to say this is the ideal way forward. But this is a workable way forward," Peeperkorn said of the humanitarian pauses. Later he added: "It will happen and should happen because we have an agreement."
These humanitarian pauses are not a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that mediators U.S., Egypt and Qatar have long been seeking, including in talks that are ongoing this week.
An Israeli official said there is expected to be some sort of tactical pause to allow vaccinations to take place. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been finalized. The Israeli army has previously announced limited pauses in limited areas to allow international humanitarian operations.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister's Office said there was to be no pause in the fighting, only a lull in certain areas to allow the vaccination efforts to proceed.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said polio vaccines must also be given to young hostages including the two children, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were abducted with their mother on October 7 and remain held in Gaza.
Professor Hagai Levin, who is the medical director of the forum, said tetanus and polio vaccines must be given to all the hostages as well.