A 10-month-old child in Gaza has contracted polio for the first time in 25 years

CNN
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Doctors have identified a case of polio in war-torn Gaza for the first time in 25 years, health officials said, and international aid groups are calling for a pause in the conflict to make way for a vaccination campaign.

Traces of the poliovirus were found in a 10-month-old child in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, the Health Ministry said in a statement late Friday, adding that the baby had not received a polio vaccination.

UNICEF had previously stated that poliovirus had been detected in environmental samples from Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah in July. Stool samples from three children had been sent to a laboratory in Jordan for testing.

Polio is a highly contagious disease that primarily affects children under five years of age. It attacks the nervous system and, in extreme cases, can lead to paralysis and death.

The resurgence of the virus – already eradicated in most developed countries – highlights the difficulties facing Gaza's two million residents, who have lived under Israeli bombardment since October last year. Many people in the enclave lack food, medicine and clean water, and up to 90 percent of the population are internally displaced.

Since Israel began its war against the terrorist group after the Hamas attack on October 7, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, officials say. According to the Israeli government, more than 1,200 Israelis were killed in the Hamas attack and 250 were taken hostage.

The Health Ministry said it would work with UNICEF to vaccinate children under the age of 10 in Gaza, adding that more than one million doses of vaccine were available.

Two rounds of vaccinations will be launched across Gaza this month and next, UNICEF said in a press release on Friday, adding that more than 640,000 children will benefit.

However, a pause in hostilities is necessary to pave the way for an effective polio vaccination campaign, the statement said. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the World Health Organization all called for a cessation of hostilities.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the proposal “essential” and noted that “the ultimate vaccine against polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”

International mediators are urging Israel and Hamas to agree on a broader ceasefire and hostage-taking deal next week after presenting the warring parties with a new proposal at high-stakes talks in Qatar.

According to UNICEF, there has been no polio in Gaza for 25 years.

“Its re-emergence, which the humanitarian community has been warning about for ten months, poses a further threat to children in Gaza and neighboring countries,” the UN body added, stressing the importance of a ceasefire.

Hamas welcomed the UN organizations' call on Friday for a seven-day “polio pause.”

But Gaza's Health Ministry warned in a statement on Friday that a vaccination campaign “will not be enough for the displaced without a radical solution to the hygiene problems and the accumulation of garbage between the tents.”

Last week, Palestinian Health Minister Dr. Majed Abu Ramadan warned that Israel's bombing had destroyed 80 percent of Gaza's health infrastructure.

Most hospitals are out of service and those that are still operating are only partially functioning “due to immediate damage and the loss of qualified medical personnel” as a result of the displacement, the minister said.

“All signs and evidence indicate that we are facing a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said.

Eyad Kourdi, Hira Humayun, Sarah Dean and Ibrahim Dahman contributed to this report.