Hamas says it will cooperate with humanitarian pauses to facilitate polio vaccine drive

A Hamas official indicated the terror group will cooperate with limited humanitarian pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for a widespread polio vaccination campaign.

Hamas official Basem Naim tells Reuters: “We are ready to cooperate with international organizations to secure this campaign, serving and protecting more than 650,000 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip.”

Earlier this week, Israel coordinated the entry of 25,100 vials of the polio vaccine to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom Crossing, enough to inoculate 1,255,000 people, just over half of the Strip’s population.

The IDF did not immediately comment on the move, announced by the World Health Organization, but it has previously established a number of “tactical pauses” in military activity in certain areas to enable the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid.