Ammon News - The World Health Organization said Thursday that Israel has agreed to successive “humanitarian pauses” in military operations in Gaza, beginning Sunday, to allow more than 640,000 children there to be given oral polio vaccinations amid an outbreak of the virus.

The pauses, from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., will last for at least three days in three separate zones, beginning in central Gaza and then moving to the south and the north, according to Rik Peeperkorn, who heads WHO operations in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank.

A second dose for those receiving the vaccine will be administered four weeks later, he said, speaking from Gaza at a virtual briefing for reporters at the United Nations in New York on Thursday.

“Due to insecurity, damage to roads and infrastructure, and dislocation,” Peeperkorn said, “the three days might not be enough” to reach a hoped-for coverage rate of 90 percent. “It has been agreed that where needed” the pauses will be “expanded by one day per zone.” Approvals, he said, have been given by COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for administering civilian policies within the occupied territories.

Washington Post