So, Is the Polio Campaign On or Off? : Tom McDermott

It has been an 'on again, off again' week in Gaza. This is nothing new, but given that it is the week before the massive polio vaccination campaign was set to begin, the week has left everyone guessing. A few developments:

* A US official claimed that Israel had agreed to pause fighting in Gaza to let the campaign get underway.

* In contrast, the Israeli cabinet put out a statement saying, that ".... Israel had not agreed to “pauses in the fighting in order to administer polio vaccines,” but rather “the allocation of certain places in the Gaza Strip” for unstated purposes, an arrangement it said had been approved by the security cabinet. The wording appeared designed to avoid indicating it had approved a humanitarian pause in the fighting in the absence of a cease-fire deal opposed by some members of Netanyahu’s coalition."

* WFP suspended all movement of its vehicles and personnel following an attack by Israeli forces at a checkpoint. "The shooting took place “a few meters” from an Israel Defense Forces checkpoint at the Wadi Gaza bridge in the central part of the enclave, WFP said.

“Despite being clearly marked and receiving multiple clearances by Israeli authorities to approach, the vehicle was directly struck by gunfire as it was moving towards an [IDF] checkpoint,” the WFP statement said. “It sustained at least ten bullets: five on the driver’s side, two on the passenger side and three on other parts of the vehicle. None of the employees onboard were physically harmed.”

* Last Saturday the UN moved vaccines to a cold storage in Deir al Balah with the assistance of the IDF.

* Two days later the IDF ordered an evacuation (the 16th evacuation order in August alone) of the population in most of Deir al Balah. The cold storage unit was not included in the targetted area, but two other UN warehouses were included, raising questions about how UN personnel and vehicles could move in the area. The UN had moved its warehouses to Deir al Balah due to earlier evacuation orders targetting its former operations center in Rafah.

So, will the campaign be allowed to start on this coming weekend, let alone reach out to cover the 640,000 children living in various parts of Gaza? Anyone's guess!!

Click here for "Israel agrees....." in the Washington Post

Click here for "WFP halts Gaza movements" in BBC news

Click here for "Evacuation order in Deir al Balah upends.."in the Washington Post