The United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, reported that a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza successfully reached 189,000 children, exceeding its goal and bringing a glimmer of hope during nearly 11 months of conflict. With over 500 teams mobilized across central Gaza this week, children under 10 years old received the vaccine. Both Israel and Hamas cooperated by implementing temporary ceasefires to allow for the vaccination campaign. The U.N. now plans to extend the initiative to the more severely affected areas in the north and south of the territory, aiming to vaccinate a total of 640,000 children as part of the effort.
The vaccination campaign was prompted by Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years, involving a 10-month-old boy who now suffers from leg paralysis. Health experts have expressed concerns about potential disease outbreaks in the region due to high displacement rates and widespread hunger. The living conditions in Gaza remain challenging, with hundreds of thousands of people residing in overcrowded tent camps lacking adequate public services.
In a separate development, Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg was one of six individuals detained in Denmark for protesting the University of Copenhagen’s collaboration with Israeli universities and voicing pro-Palestinian messages. The group was held by police on suspicion of trespassing after briefly occupying one of the university’s entrances. Following their release, the protesters were removed from the university premises by authorities, who intervened after an anti-Israel banner was displayed from a window of the institution’s old administration building in downtown Copenhagen.