Written by Nidal Al-Maghribi
CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed at least 48 Palestinians in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip as they tried to repel an offensive by Hamas-led militants, Palestinian officials said on Monday, while medics conducted a second day of polio vaccinations for children in the territory.
More than 80,000 children were vaccinated in central Gaza on Sunday, the first day of the campaign, Palestinian officials and the United Nations said.
Hamas and Israel agreed to a brief ceasefire to allow for a vaccination campaign for some 640,000 children. No violations were reported near vaccination centers.
Seven Palestinians were killed in two Israeli air strikes on Gaza City, while two air strikes killed six others in Bureij and Nuseirat, two of the eight historic refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said Monday.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their fighters confronted Israeli forces in the north, south and some central areas of Gaza with anti-tank missiles and mortar shells.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on Monday reiterated its call for an immediate ceasefire to help ensure a successful and safe polio vaccination campaign.
“On the first day alone, UNRWA teams and partners were able to reach around 87,000 children according to the World Health Organization. Efforts continue to provide children with this essential vaccine, but what they need most is a ceasefire now,” the social media platform X said.
Israel and Hamas continued to trade accusations over the failure to reach a ceasefire that would end the war and lead to the release of Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza and many Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
deadly disease
Parents continued to bring their infants to medical facilities for vaccination on Monday. The World Health Organization says a decline in routine vaccinations in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza, has contributed to the resurgence of polio in the region.
Polio is a highly contagious virus that can cause paralysis and death in infants, with children under two years of age being most at risk.
Last month, the World Health Organization confirmed that a child had been partially paralyzed by poliovirus type 2, the first such case in the region in 25 years.
Palestinians say the main reason for the return of polio is the collapse of the health system and the destruction of most hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes, a charge the Islamist movement denies.
The 11-month-old war in Gaza erupted after Hamas militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli statistics.
Since then, an estimated 40,786 Palestinians have been killed and more than 94,000 wounded in Gaza, the Gaza Strip’s health ministry said Monday.
Israel went on a general strike on Monday as unions and businesses sought to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to agree to a deal to return the remaining Israeli hostages home. An Israeli labor court later ruled the strike must end at 2.30 p.m. (1130 GMT).
Israelis have been protesting since the bodies of six hostages were found in a tunnel in southern Gaza over the weekend.