UNICEF says polio vaccination campaign in Gaza surpassing target

The U.N. children’s agency said a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza reached 189,000 children, surpassing its target and providing a “rare bright spot” in nearly 11 months of war.

UNICEF said Wednesday that more than 500 teams deployed across central Gaza this week, administering the vaccine to children under 10.

It said Israel and Hamas observed limited pauses in the fighting to facilitate the campaign. U.N. agencies now hope to expand the campaign to the harder-hit north and south of the territory. They hope to vaccinate a total of 640,000 children.

The campaign was launched after Gaza had its first reported polio case in 25 years — a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in the leg.

The war began when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. In response, Israel launched a retaliatory counteroffensive, which has killed more than 40,800 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.

Germany, a close ally of Israel, said a cease-fire agreement with Hamas must have the “highest priority.” The foreign minister is expected to underline the message on a trip to the Middle East this week.

Government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner said Wednesday that the killing of six Israeli hostages “has once again made clear that a cease-fire that opens the way to the freeing of all hostages held by Hamas must now have the highest priority. Other considerations should stand back.”

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is setting off Wednesday evening on a trip to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and the West Bank to speak with regional officials, including Israel’s foreign and defense ministers and the Palestinian prime minister.

Meanwhile, a group representing families of the hostages held in Gaza demanded Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stop wearing a yellow pin, a global symbol of solidarity with the hostages.

“Stop creating a false impression of support and of striving to bring back the hostages when in reality you are doing everything to torpedo the deal,” the group, the Hostages and Missing Families forum, said in a statement.