The Palestinian Ministry of Health on Monday, July 29, declared the Gaza Strip a polio epidemic zone, after years of eradicating the disease in Palestine.
This classification comes as a result of the deterioriation of humanitarian conditions in Gaza due to Israeli aggression, causing infrastructure destruction, water deprivation, garbage accumulation, and food insecurity.
In a statement posted on Facebook, the ministry confirmed that the CVPV2 polio virus was discovered in sewage water in the Khan Yunis and Middle Governorates.
It explained that the spread of this disease in Gaza “poses a health threat to the residents of the Gaza Strip and neighboring countries and a setback to the global polio eradication program.”
The ministry has called for immediate intervention to address issues such as lack of potable water, personal hygiene, damaged sewage networks, and the removal of tonnes of rubbish and solid waste.
On Friday, July 26, the World Health Organization said it was sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to prevent children from contracting the virus after it was detected in sewage samples.
On Sunday, July 21, Israel’s military said that it will provide the polio vaccine to soldiers in the Gaza following the discovery of virus remnants in test samples.
