The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has finally confirmed the suspected case of polio that was first identified a week ago in a 10-month-old baby in the central Gaza Strip, the first such incident to be confirmed in the Palestinian enclave in 25 years.

“The baby, who has developed paralysis in the left lower limb, is now stable,” the WHO director general confirmed on his social media account X.

Besides, Part of his body is already paralyzed and his life is in dangerthe UN Refugee Agency (UNRWA) said in a statement. “This is very sad news. Polio will not distinguish between Palestinian and Israeli children,” UNRWA Secretary General Philippe Lazzarini said in X, referring to the rapid spread of the disease due to the lack of hygiene and sanitation in the enclave.

The case was confirmed after an analysis of the baby’s stool samples, whose genetic sequence matches the type 2 variant of the poliovirus detected in wastewater samples from the enclave, collected in June.

Precisely that month Poliovirus was identified in these environmental samplesalso collected in the nearby town of Khan Yunis. Since then, three cases of children with suspected acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), a common symptom of polio, have been reported in Gaza.

“Delaying a humanitarian pause will increase the risk of spreading among children”Lazzarini warned. He also indicated that it is not enough to bring the vaccines to Gaza and protect the cold chain, but that they must reach all children and that for UNRWA medical teams to be able to distribute them, security conditions are necessary.

Since the war began, UNRWA has been able to vaccinate 80% of Gaza’s children against various childhood diseases, although now A poliovirus immunization campaign is necessaryIn addition to polio, there is a high incidence of infectious skin diseases in the Gaza Strip, as well as diarrhea and an outbreak with more than 40,000 cases of hepatitis A.