Israel has agreed to temporarily halt some military operations in the Gaza Strip to allow for a polio vaccination campaign, the Washington Post reported Wednesday night, quoting a senior US State Department official.
The decision reportedly comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the issue during their meeting last week.
Last week, several Israeli infectious disease organizations jointly called on the health and defense ministers to order an immediate pause in Gaza. Their aim was to enable a widespread vaccination drive to combat the rapidly spreading poliovirus in the territory.
The medical associations warned that the polio outbreak in Gaza poses a risk to IDF soldiers in the strip, those handling imprisoned Palestinian terrorists, and the hostages, including unvaccinated infant Kfir Bibas.
In response, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement clarifying that Israel had not agreed to "pauses in fighting for polio vaccinations" but rather to "designating specific areas in the Gaza Strip" for unspecified purposes. This careful wording likely aimed to avoid suggesting a humanitarian pause in the absence of a ceasefire agreement, which some members of Netanyahu's Coalition oppose.
