A Gaza Health Ministry official said Monday night that the Israeli military prevented a United Nations and World Health Organization convoy loaded with medicine and fuel from entering the Gaza Strip and northern governorates, refuting Israeli claims that a number of Palestinian suspects were inside.
The ministry’s director general, Mounir Al-Bursh, added that this ban comes for the fifth time in a week, explaining that the fuel carried by the convoy, which the occupation prevents from entering northern Gaza, is intended for the polio vaccination campaign.
He stressed that obstructing the entry of this convoy would hinder the completion of the vaccination campaign in northern Gaza.
Earlier on Monday, the army said in a statement posted on its account on the X platform that its forces had stopped a convoy of United Nations vehicles in the northern area of the Gaza Strip, claiming the presence of suspected Palestinians inside the convoy.
Earlier Monday evening, Israeli media, including the private Channel 12, reported that the Israeli army stopped a United Nations humanitarian convoy carrying polio vaccines in the northern Gaza Strip, saying there were suspects inside.
The Health Ministry is expected to launch the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza and northern governorates on Tuesday morning, in cooperation with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and UNRWA.
On September 1, the vaccination campaign began, which, according to the government press office, is expected to benefit about 649,000 children. It was implemented in the central governorate and then transferred to the governorates of Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south.
With American support, since October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war against Gaza that has left more than 135,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, in a context of massive destruction and deadly famine.