Over 50 children reportedly killed in Gaza amid Intensified violence, while the vaccination campaign for polio, recently resumed in northern Gaza, is facing disruptions due to the ongoing conflict.
In the past 48 hours, over 50 children have reportedly been killed in Jabalia, northern Gaza, according to UN children’s agency.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said on Sunday that the strikes have targeted two residential buildings, sheltering hundreds of people in the last 2 days.
“This has already been a deadly weekend of attacks in North Gaza,” Russell said in a statement.
Palestinian officials have also reported that an Israeli drone strike hit a clinic in the region, where children were receiving polio vaccinations, injuring six people, including four children.
The Israeli military denied responsibility.
The alleged strike occurred on Saturday in northern Gaza, an area that has been encircled by Israeli forces and largely isolated for the past year. Israel has intensified its offensive there in recent weeks that has killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands.
Israeli forces have repeatedly raided hospitals in Gaza over the course of the war, claiming Hamas uses them for militant purposes, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials. Hamas fighters are also operating in the north, battling Israeli forces.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, which are jointly carrying out the polio vaccination campaign, expressed concern over the reported strike.
“This attack, during humanitarian pause, jeopardises the sanctity of health protection for children and may deter parents from bringing their children for vaccination,” the statement from WHO said.
“The reports of this attack are even more disturbing as the Sheikh Radwan Clinic is one of the health points where parents can get their children vaccinated,” said Rosalia Bollen, a spokesperson for UNICEF.
Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said that “contrary to the claims, an initial review determined that the (Israeli military) did not strike in the area at the specified time.”
Eight killed in Khan Younis
In southern Gaza on Sunday, an Israeli strike hit a group of people gathered outside in an eastern district of Khan Younis, killing at least eight Palestinians, including four children and a woman, the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency services said.
The city’s Nasser Hospital, which received most of the bodies, confirmed the figures.
15,000 children under 10 years old remain out of reach
A scaled-down campaign to administer a second dose of the polio vaccine began on Saturday in parts of northern Gaza.
It had been postponed from October 23 due to access issues, Israeli bombings, mass evacuation orders, and a lack of guarantees for humanitarian pauses, according to a UN statement.
The administration of the first dose was carried out in September across the Gaza Strip, including areas of northern Gaza that are now completely sealed off.
Health officials said the campaign’s first round, and the administration of the second dose across central and southern Gaza, were successful.
At least 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate from areas of north Gaza toward Gaza City in the past few weeks, but around 15,000 children under the age of 10 remain in northern towns, including Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, which are inaccessible, according to the UN.
Israeli military continue its ground invasion in southern Lebanon
Meanwhile, the Israeli military on Sunday released footage of what it said were ongoing operations in southern Lebanon.
The military continued its ground invasion in southern Lebanon, with the aim, according to Israel, to debilitate the Hezbollah militant group, push it away from the border and end more than a year of Hezbollah fire into northern Israel.
More than 1 million people have fled bombardment, emptying much of the south.
Some experts say Israel may be aiming to create a depopulated buffer zone, a strategy it has already deployed along its border with Gaza.
Israel says it carried out ground raid into Syria
The Israeli military said on Sunday it carried out a ground raid into Syria, seizing a Syrian citizen involved in Iranian networks. It was the first time in the current war that Israel has announced sending troops into Syria.
The army did not specify where in Syria the raid took place or when.
Syria did not immediately confirm the announcement.
Israel has carried out airstrikes in Syria multiple times over the past year, targeting members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and officials from Iran, the close ally of both Hezbollah and Syria. But it has not previously made public any ground forays into Syria.
