From the Liveblog of
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Hamas said to agree to 7-day truce for polio vaccinations; Egypt expects halt to last 3-5 days
Hamas has agreed to hold what it presents as a seven-day humanitarian truce in Gaza to carry out a vaccination drive against polio among the local population, the Arabic-language, London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site reports.
The outlet says Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha told it in an interview that the Palestinian terror group is urging all sides to go through with the temporary truce initiative, arguing that Israel must not be allowed to “evade or procrastinate and put in place alternatives by specifying places to start the vaccination process and not committing to any humanitarian truce.”
The outlet cites unnamed Egyptian sources as expecting a truce to kick off within days, lasting through daylight hours for 3-5 days, excluding places in the Strip where the IDF is operating.
The truce, reportedly discussed by Egypt and the US last week, would be independent of any Israel-Hamas deal, as talks have failed to yield a breakthrough.
The UN is preparing to vaccinate an estimated 640,000 children in Gaza, after the World Health Organization said a 10-month-old baby had been paralyzed by the type 2 poliovirus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.
Last night, Channel 13 reported that Jerusalem had okayed temporary humanitarian truces in the Strip in order to facilitate polio vaccinations.
According to the report, the decision was made at US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s demand when he visited last week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and security chiefs were said to have approved the step without updating the security cabinet ministers.
The Prime Minister’s Office denied authorizing the truce, but confirmed it had okayed “designating certain areas in the Strip.” It claimed the move was presented in the security cabinet and got its support.
