Published On 9/11/2025
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Last update: 17:45 (Mecca time)
On Sunday, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip launched a catch-up vaccination campaign targeting children under the age of three who missed essential vaccines over the course of two years of the genocidal war committed by Israel.
Since Sunday morning, thousands of Palestinians, accompanied by their children, went to the medical centers and points designated by the Ministry of Health in order to obtain vaccines to boost their children’s immunity.
Children constitute 47 percent of the total population in the Gaza Strip, amounting to 0.98 million people, according to a statement by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics last April.
The Ministry said in a statement that this campaign is being implemented in cooperation with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the Palestine Red Crescent Society, with the support of the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
She explained that vaccines are provided through 150 health centers affiliated with her, UNRWA, the Palestinian Red Crescent, and civil and international institutions operating in the Strip.
On Friday, UNRWA said that this campaign aims to reach 44,000 children in Gaza, to give them life-saving vaccines and conduct malnutrition tests for them.
She added in a statement at the time: It was reported that one in every 5 children in Gaza missed basic vaccinations.
The Ministry of Health indicated that the campaign is scheduled to last for 10 days, and will be implemented in 3 stages, with a difference of one month separating each stage.
She reiterated that vaccination is the first and last line of defense against epidemics and diseases that threaten the lives of children who have missed essential vaccine doses.
This campaign comes two years after the Israeli genocide, which caused the almost complete collapse of the health system and the disruption of immunization programs, depriving hundreds of thousands of children of obtaining their vaccinations.
At the beginning of the genocide war, health facilities affiliated with the Ministry of Health and UNRWA provided monthly vaccinations to children within their general stock, but the lack of availability of these vaccinations as a result of the Israeli siege and the prevention of the entry of medical supplies prevented this from continuing.
Within two years of the genocide, the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in cooperation with international organizations, launched two emergency vaccination campaigns against polio only, the first of which was launched on September 1, 2024 and the second on February 22, 2025.
With the entry into force of the ceasefire agreement on October 10, 2025, various vital sectors, including health, are trying to return to life despite the lack of capabilities, equipment and facilities.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, the shortage of basic medicines in its stores exceeds 56 percent, while the shortage of medical supplies reaches about 65 percent.
The government media office had previously confirmed that Israel had violated the humanitarian protocol of the ceasefire agreement, including not allowing the entry of medicines and medical supplies as part of the limited humanitarian aid arriving.
The genocide, which Israel began on October 8, 2023 in Gaza and continued for two years, left more than 69,000 martyrs and more than 170,000 wounded, and caused destruction that affected 90 percent of the civilian infrastructure in the Strip.