The World Health Organization (WHO) has obtained a preliminary commitment for area-specific humanitarian pauses in the Gaza Strip to facilitate a polio vaccination campaign, according to a senior WHO official. The campaign aims to vaccinate an estimated 640,000 children in Gaza, where a 25-year absence of polio was recently disrupted by a confirmed case of type 2 polio virus paralysis in a baby. The three-day “humanitarian pauses” will enable the vaccination campaign to commence on Sunday in central Gaza, said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the Palestinian territories. Earlier this week, Israel delivered 25,100 vials of the polio vaccine to Gaza, sufficient to inoculate over half of the Strip’s population. The humanitarian pauses are similar to the “tactical pauses” frequently announced by the military to enable humanitarian aid delivery and distribution. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)