WHO Chief: Detected Polio Cares For Terrible Conditions Experienced By Gazans

Gaza refugee condition. (Twitter/@UNRWA)

JAKARTA - The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday polio had been detected in Gaza, warning children in the war-torn enclave would soon be infected by the disease, if preventive measures were not taken immediately.

The day after WHO said there was a "big possibility" of polio cases among Gaza's population, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern about casualties due to the conflict between Israel and Hamas on X's social media.

"The detection of polio in Gaza is another reminder of the terrible conditions facing Gazans," Tedros wrote in X.

"Fights continue to hinder efforts to identify and respond to preventable threats such as polio," he continued.

Tedros linked his post to an article he wrote in the French newspaper Le Monde, published on Tuesday, where he said the polio virus had been detected in a waste sample in Gaza.

In the article, the Head of WHO wrote, although no polio cases have yet been recorded, "if there is no immediate action, it is only a matter of time before this disease infects thousands of unprotected children" there.

It is known that the Polio distributed mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly contagious virus that can attack the nervous system and cause paralysis and death in children.

polio cases have fallen 99 percent worldwide since 1988 thanks to the mass vaccination campaign and efforts to eradicate them.

The WHO itself sent more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered in the next few weeks to prevent children from contracting the disease, Tedros said.

Separately, medical sources in Gaza on Wednesday confirmed that at least 45 other Palestinian 77 were injured as a result of the last 24-hour Israeli attack, quoted from WAFA.

That brings the Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks since October 7 to 39,445, with 91,073 others injured. The majority of victims were women and children.