Geneva, August 8 (RHC)-- World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Wednesday to stop the fire in the Gaza Strip to bring more than one million polio vaccines to that region, after detection of the virus causing the disease in waste water.

“We need absolute freedom of movement for health workers and medical equipment to carry out these complex operations safely and effectively.  A ceasefire, or at least “quiet days” during the preparation and delivery of vaccination campaigns, is needed to protect Gaza’s children from polio,” wrote the top representative of the entity in his X account.

Ghebreyesus also said that the organization he runs and his partners are preparing “two rounds of polio vaccination campaigns for 600,000 children under 8 years old.  The WHO is sending over one million polio vaccines to Gaza, which will be administered in the coming weeks.”

Last week, the Palestinian Ministry of Health declared a polio epidemic in the Gaza Strip and warned that continued Israeli attacks are the main cause of the spread of the disease.