The Prime Minister's Office said on Saturday night that reports of a ceasefire in Gaza to distribute and administer polio vaccines to residents were false after COGAT announced that a vaccination campaign would start on Sunday.
The PMO added that Israel will enable a humanitarian corridor to allow the entry of aid workers and designate certain areas in which the vaccines will be safely administered.
Netanyahu's office stressed that Israel is committed to preventing an outbreak of the disease in the Gaza Strip, as well as in the entire region.
COGAT said on Saturday that, following meetings with the UN and other aid organizations, the campaign to vaccinate Gaza residents against polio will begin on Sunday.
The campaign will occur at three locations.
In central Gaza, the campaign began on Sunday at 6:00 a.m. and will continue until 2:00 p.m. It will also take place at these times on Monday and Tuesday.
The campaign will occur in southern Gaza between September 4 and 6, between 6:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
The campaign will occur in northern Gaza between September 7 and 9, between 6:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Number of vaccinated residents
COGAT added that since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, 282,126 vials of polio vaccine have entered the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom Crossing. In August, vaccines for 1,081,250 recipients have been brought in for the campaign.
WHO said that 90% of Gaza was vaccinated against Polio in the first quarter of 2024.
On July 16, 2024, the Global Polio Laboratory Network (GPLN) reported the detection of six cVDPV2 isolates in environmental samples collected from Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis in Gaza. These samples showed a close genetic linkage, indicating that the virus circulating in Gaza may have been introduced as early as September 2023 and that the virus appears genetically related to the strain circulating in Egypt in late 2023.
Type 2 polio, or circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2), is one of three poliovirus strains.
Unlike the naturally occurring form of the virus, wild poliovirus, cVDPV2, emerges from the oral polio vaccine (OPV). The OPV contains a weakened, live form of the poliovirus, which replicates in the intestines and builds immunity by triggering an immune response.
Simcha Pasko/The Media Line contributed to this report.