WHO Targets Vaccinating 40,000 Children in Gaza as Ceasefire Allows Access

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday it plans to vaccinate more than 40,000 children in Gaza against a range of life-threatening diseases, taking advantage of the current ceasefire to accelerate its campaign.

More than 10,000 children under the age of three have already been vaccinated in the first eight days of phase one, which began on November 9. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the initial phase has now been extended until Saturday, with the goal of protecting children from measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, polio, rotavirus and pneumonia.

Phases two and three—run in partnership with UNICEF, UNRWA and Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry—are scheduled for December and January.

Tedros said he was “encouraged to see that the ceasefire continues to hold,” noting that the pause in fighting has enabled WHO and its partners to scale up essential health services and begin efforts to re-equip and rebuild Gaza’s shattered health system.

The UN Security Council on Monday endorsed the plan put forward by US President Donald Trump, which helped establish the October 10 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Despite the truce, sporadic violence has continued in the territory, ravaged by more than two years of conflict that began after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. That assault killed 1,221 people—mostly civilians—according to an AFP tally of official figures.

In Gaza, more than 69,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory campaign, according to the territory’s health ministry. The ministry, whose data the UN considers reliable, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half of the dead are women and minors.