Gaza is facing a deepening health crisis. The Gazan Ministry of Health has declared a polio outbreak in the enclave, tying it to the devastating Israeli military campaign. After nearly ten months of ongoing bombardment, entire cities turned to rubble, hospitals destroyed, and critical infrastructure ruined, tens of thousands of residents who remain in Gaza are now confronted with another urgent health emergency. Ten days ago, the World Health Organization confirmed the presence of the poliovirus in wastewater in the central and southern parts of the territory. Unlike the local Palestinian population, Israeli soldiers are undergoing a vaccination campaign to curb the deadly virus.
“The situation poses a health threat to Gaza residents and neighboring countries, and it undermines the global polio eradication effort”, the ministry said in a statement released on Telegram this Monday. It also called for immediate intervention to stop what it described as the Israeli aggression and to address the lack of drinking water, personal hygiene issues, damaged sewer networks, and the abundance of waste. Earlier this month, the ministry, in coordination with UNICEF, detected the poliovirus type 2 component in wastewater that had accumulated and flowed between the tents of the displaced.
Permanent paralysis
Gaza is ill prepared to manage the outbreak. Polio, transmitted mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly contagious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. The poliovirus can present with mild or no symptoms, yet it can lead to permanent paralysis, typically in the legs, and the onset can be rapid, sometimes within hours of infection. It spreads easily in areas with poor water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions. Children under five are disproportionately affected. There is no cure for polio, but vaccination at an early age can prevent infection. Once infected, treatments may improve mobility but cannot reverse paralysis.
“We were close to eradicating it, but with conflicts erupting worldwide, all that progress and funding has stalled because we’ve regressed”, said Margaret Harris, a World Health Organization spokesperson, in a conversation with a major broadcaster. Since 1988, global polio cases have fallen by about 99 percent thanks to mass vaccination campaigns. Harris noted, in a warning about the current moment, that many polio infections are asymptomatic, which underscores the importance of vaccination. Earlier this week, the WHO announced the shipment of about a million vaccine doses to Gaza, while urging a truce to vaccinate children.
Vaccination of soldiers
Even the Israeli forces recognize that the damage to sewer and water systems is producing serious consequences. A few weeks ago, the army announced it would begin offering a vaccine to soldiers serving in Gaza after remnants of the virus were found. Recruits would be vaccinated during routine troop rotations, though participation would not be mandatory. Military authorities also indicated that with international cooperation, enough vaccines had been secured to cover more than one million of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants. Experts fear the virus could eventually spread to Israeli territory.
A polio outbreak would compound immense suffering. Since October 7, at least 39,363 Palestinians have died and 90,923 have been injured amid the violence. Most hospitals and many towns and villages where Gazans lived in crowded conditions have been devastated. Aid organizations have warned that water access has been used as a weapon in the conflict, with the destruction of water facilities and a deliberate blockade of aid reducing water delivery to Gaza by about 94 percent, to roughly 4.74 liters per person per day—well below the emergency minimum and far short of the water needs for safe sanitation. The remaining water could become a deadly threat to residents.