Second round of polio vaccination campaign starts in Gaza: UN

United Nations, Oct 15 (IANS) The second round of the polio vaccination campaign began in the middle area of the Gaza Strip, UN humanitarians said.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Monday said that in less than two weeks, UNRWA -- the UN relief agency for Palestinians, the World Health Organization, and the UN Children's Fund aim to vaccinate around 590,000 children under 10 years of age with a second dose of the novel oral polio vaccination, reports Xinhua news agency.

"But to vaccinate as many children as possible, all parties must respect local humanitarian pauses," OCHA said.

This follows a first round, which was implemented from September 1 to 12, reaching more than 559,000 children.

As with the first round, the second round will have three phases, each involving three campaign days and one catch-up day.

Responding to Sunday night's Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people near Al Aqsa Hospital in Gaza, UN Acting Under-Secretary-General Joyce Msuya said that the horrors Palestinians are forced to endure "seem to have no end."

In a statement, Msuya said there really is no safe place in Gaza for people to go, calling for the atrocities to end and for civilians and civilian infrastructure to be protected.

Several people were reportedly burned to death in that attack, with scores of others, including women and children, suffering severe burns. This followed another strike just hours earlier on a school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat, which reportedly killed more than 20 people and injured scores of others.

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