RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Gaza has recorded its first polio case in 25 years, the Palestinian health ministry said on Friday, after UN chief Antonio Guterres called for pauses in the Israel-Hamas war to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of children.
Tests in Jordan confirmed the disease in an unvaccinated 10-month-old from the central Gaza Strip, the health ministry in Ramallah said.
According to the United Nations, Gaza, now in its 11th month of war, has not registered a polio case for 25 years, although type 2 poliovirus was detected in samples collected from the territory’s wastewater in June.
“Doctors suspected the presence of symptoms consistent with polio,” the health ministry said. “After conducting the necessary tests in the Jordanian capital, Amman, the infection was confirmed.”
The case emerged shortly after Guterres called for two seven-day breaks in the Gaza war to vaccinate more than 640,000 children.
Poliovirus, most often spread through sewage and contaminated water, is highly infectious. It can cause deformities and paralysis, and is potentially fatal. It mainly affects children under the age of five.
The UN health and children’s agencies said they had made detailed plans to reach children across the besieged Palestinian territory and could start this month.
But that would require pauses in the 10-month old war between Israel and Hamas, they said.
“Preventing and containing the spread of polio will take a massive, coordinated and urgent effort,” Guterres told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.
“I am appealing to all parties to provide concrete assurances right away guaranteeing humanitarian pauses for the campaign.”
The World Health Organization and UN children’s fund UNICEF said they were planning two seven-day vaccination drives across the Gaza Strip, starting in late August, against type 2 poliovirus (cVDPV2).
Last month, it was announced that type 2 poliovirus had been detected in samples collected in Gaza on June 23.
“These pauses in fighting would allow children and families to safely reach health facilities and community outreach workers to get to children who cannot access health facilities for polio vaccination,” the agencies said in a statement said.
After 25 years without polio, its re-emergence in the Gaza Strip would threaten neighboring countries, it added.
“A ceasefire is the only way to ensure public health security in the Gaza Strip and the region.”
During each round of the campaign, the health ministry in Gaza, alongside UN agencies, would provide “two drops of novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to more than 640,000 children under 10 years of age.”
More than 1.6 million doses of nOPV2 were expected to transit through Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport “by the end of August,” the statement added.
The war was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
On Thursday, the toll from Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza passed 40,000, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant casualties.
Gaza records first polio case in 25 years as UN urges vaccinations
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Gaza records first polio case in 25 years as UN urges vaccinations
- Tests in Jordan confirmed disease in unvaccinated 10-month-old from the central Gaza Strip
- ’Doctors suspected the presence of symptoms consistent with polio,’ the health ministry said
Thailand ‘disappointed’ by renewed Gaza hostilities
- Israel has said it will pound the Palestinian territory until Hamas releases the remaining hostages held there, despite many inside Israel believing that this strategy will only endanger the captives’ lives
BANGKOK: Thailand has said it is “disappointed” by the return to hostilities in Gaza and called for the release of hostages, including a Thai national.
Israel on Tuesday began a fresh assault on the war-battered enclave, shattering the relative calm since a Jan. 19 ceasefire.
The strikes, by far the deadliest since the truce took effect in January, have killed more than 500 people, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
At least 130 Palestinians were killed and 263 wounded in the past 48 hours of Israel’s offensive on Gaza, the ministry said on Saturday.
“Thailand is profoundly concerned about and disappointed at the return to hostilities in the Gaza Strip,” said a Thai Foreign Ministry statement.
The Southeast Asian nation urged “all sides to exercise utmost restraint, cease the hostilities, and resume negotiations to implement the ceasefire and hostage agreement.”
It called for the release of remaining hostages in Gaza — including one Thai — and the repatriation of the bodies of two Thai nationals.
When Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, 31 Thais were abducted, with 23 released by the end of that year and two confirmed dead in May.
Five more abducted Thais returned home in February following their release as part of the January ceasefire, with one Thai national still believed to be alive in Gaza. Israel has said it will pound the Palestinian territory until Hamas releases the remaining hostages held there, despite many inside Israel believing that this strategy will only endanger the captives’ lives.
Ghassan Al-Khatib, a Palestinian political analyst and former Palestinian Authority minister, believes Hamas will only release hostages if it is given guarantees that Israel will uphold the terms of the stalled January ceasefire.
“If the hostages are released under the pressure of the Israeli attacks, then Hamas will be (left) with no guarantees,” he said.
“Hamas will not trust any word from Israel, but the guarantees should come from third parties” such as mediators Egypt, the US or Qatar, Al-Khatib added.
The governments of Germany, France and Britain called for an immediate return to a ceasefire in Gaza in a joint statement that also called on Israel to restore humanitarian access.
“We call on Israel to restore humanitarian access, including water and electricity, and ensure access to medical care and temporary medical evacuations in accordance with international humanitarian law,” the foreign ministers of the three countries, known as the E3, said in a statement.
The ministers said they were “appalled by the civilian casualties,” and also called on Palestinian Hamas militants to release Israeli hostages.
They said the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians could not be resolved through military means, and that a long-lasting ceasefire was the only credible pathway to peace.
The ministers added that they were “deeply shocked” by the incident that affected the UN Office for Project Services, UNOPS, building in Gaza, and called for an investigation into the incident.
Israel anti-government protests flare after dismissal of top security agency chief
- Protesters waved blue and white Israeli flags and called for a deal that would see the release of the remaining Israeli hostages being held in Gaza
- “The most dangerous enemy of Israel is Benjamin Netanyahu,” protester Moshe Haaharony
TEL AVIV: Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday against the decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service and resume fighting in Gaza.
Netanyahu said this week he had lost confidence in Ronen Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021, and intended to fire him effective April 10, prompting three days of protests.
Israel’s Supreme Court issued an injunction on Friday temporarily freezing the dismissal.
Netanyahu has dismissed accusations the decision was politically motivated, but his critics have accused him of undermining the institutions underpinning Israel’s democracy by seeking Bar’s removal.
Israel returned to war in Gaza this week, shattering a ceasefire that saw the exchange of hostages being held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and brought respite to the battered enclave.
In Tel Aviv’s Habima Square, protesters waved blue and white Israeli flags and called for a deal that would see the release of the remaining Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.
“The most dangerous enemy of Israel is Benjamin Netanyahu,” protester Moshe Haaharony, 63, told Reuters. “Benjamin Netanyahu, for 20 years, doesn’t care about the country, doesn’t care about the citizens.”
Since the start of the war, there have also been regular protests by families and supporters of hostages seized by Hamas during the October 7 attack that have sometimes echoed the criticisms of the government.
“We are a year and a half later after we had very fierce fighting in Gaza and Hamas is still in power,” protester Erez Berman, 44, told Reuters. “It still has tens of thousands of fighters. So the Israeli government actually failed in getting its own goals out of the war.”
With the resumption of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, the fate of 59 hostages, as many as 24 of whom are still believed to be alive, remains unclear and protesters said a return to war could see them either killed by their captors or accidentally by Israeli bombardments.
“We’re going to do whatever it takes to bring the hostages home,” Ophir Falk, Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser, told Reuters.
“Hamas unfortunately understands military pressure, and only military pressure. In November 2023 we got over 80 hostages out for one reason, military pressure... The only reason they went back to the negotiating table was military pressure. And that’s what we’re doing right now,” Falk said.
US embassy in Israel warns Americans there to be on guard
- “The security environment is complex and can change quickly,” the embassy said
WASHINGTON: The US embassy in Israel on Saturday warned Americans there to avoid large gatherings and be prepared to seek shelter following an escalation of conflict in the country.
“The security environment is complex and can change quickly,” the embassy said in an alert posted on its website. “Be aware of your surroundings.”
The warning came as the Israeli army said it was attacking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in a second wave of strikes, after intercepting rockets fired from across the border earlier in the day.
Israel has also seen a series of large protests in recent days over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service.
Lebanon’s Tyre targeted in new Israeli strikes: state media
- The strike on the city of Tyre led to a preliminary toll of four injured
BEIRUT: Lebanese state media reported that four people were injured Saturday in an Israeli strike on the key coastal city of Tyre, as a new wave of attacks hit the country.
“The strike on the city of Tyre led to a preliminary toll of four injured,” the official National News Agency said, adding that Israel also attacked other areas of south and east Lebanon.
Father of the last living American hostage in Gaza hopes Trump can bring his son home
- Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier who grew up in the US, is one of 59 hostages still in Gaza
- Adi Alexander said he thinks Netanyahu wants to bring everybody home, but on his own terms
TEL AVIV: Unlike many families who blame Israel’s government for not getting their loved ones released from captivity in Gaza, Adi Alexander is hesitant to point fingers.
Pragmatic and measured, the father of the last living American being held hostage by Hamas just wants his son to come home.
“I don’t want to get into who came first, the egg or the chicken,” Alexander told AP on Friday from his New Jersey home. Still, with the once-promising ceasefire giving way to renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas, he wonders whether Israel can secure his son’s freedom and is more hopeful about the US’s chances to do it.
Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier who grew up in the US, is one of 59 hostages still in Gaza, more than half of whom are believed to be dead. Last week, Hamas said it would release Edan and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel recommitted to the stalled ceasefire agreement.
Days later, though, Israel launched rockets across Gaza, breaking the two-month-old deal and killing hundreds of Palestinians. The hostilities show no signs of abating, with Israel vowing Friday to advance deeper into Gaza until Hamas releases the remaining hostages.
The return to fighting has inflamed the debate in Israel over the fate of those held captive. Netanyahu has come under mounting domestic pressure, with mass protests over his handling of the hostage crisis. But he also faces demands from his hard-line allies not to accept any deal that falls short of Hamas’ destruction.
A father’s hope
Adi Alexander said he thinks Netanyahu wants to bring everybody home, but on his own terms. He questions Netanyahu’s plans whereas he believes US President Donald Trump’s message is clear: He’s focused on bringing the hostages home. Alexander said he’s counting on the US to bridge the large gap between Israel and Hamas. His message to Trump about his administration’s efforts to free his son and the others: “Just keep this job going.”
Many families of the hostages say Trump has done more for them than Netanyahu, crediting the president with the ceasefire. In December, before taking office, Trump demanded the hostages’ immediate release, saying if they weren’t freed before he was sworn in for his second term there would be “hell to pay.”
Phase one of the deal began weeks later, and saw the release of 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The ceasefire was supposed to remain in place as long as talks on the second phase continued, but Netanyahu balked at entering substantive negotiations.
Instead, he tried to force Hamas to accept a new ceasefire plan put forth by US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. That plan would have required Hamas to release half its remaining hostages — the militant group’s main bargaining chip — in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the original ceasefire agreement mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
The US engages directly with Hamas
As a soldier, Edan would have been released during the deal’s second phase. But Hamas announced this month that it would release Edan after the White House said it had engaged in “ongoing talks and discussions” with the group — separate from the main negotiations. It is the first known direct engagement between Hamas and the US since the State Department designated it a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
Adi Alexander said Adam Boehler, who’s helping spearhead the Trump administration’s efforts to free the hostages, led those separate talks because phase two was stalled. But he said he didn’t believe Hamas’ claim that it would release his son because it came out of left field and wasn’t being considered as part of the discussions between the group and Boehler.
The anxious father said he speaks with Witkoff and Boehler almost daily and understands the negotiations are ongoing despite the resumption of fighting.
A native of Tenafly, a New Jersey suburb of New York City, Edan moved to Israel in 2022 after high school and enlisted in the military. He was abducted from his base during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war, when Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 others hostage.
The grueling wait
Since Edan’s abduction, there’s been little news about him.
Hamas released a video of him over Thanksgiving weekend in November. His family said it was difficult to watch as he cried and pleaded for help, but it was a relief to see he was alive.
Freed hostages have given the family more news, according to his father. Some said Edan had lost a lot of weight. Others said he’d been an advocate for fellow hostages, standing up for kidnapped Thai workers and telling their captors that the workers weren’t Israeli and should be freed.
Although he knows the resumption of fighting means it will take more time to get his son back, Adi Alexander said he thinks both sides had became too comfortable with the ceasefire and that this was one reason phase two never began. He wants the war to end, and hopes the fighting will be limited and targeted and push everyone back to the table.
“Somebody, I think had to shake this tree to create chaos, and chaos creates opportunities,” he said. “The only objective is to get back to the bargaining table to get those people out.”
