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Questions raised about humanitarian access in Gaza and polio vaccination amid evacuation orders
Summary
Journalists and representatives asked whether aid operations in Gaza have halted after evacuation orders and whether Israel would allow a short ceasefire for a polio vaccination campaign; the unidentified speaker denied some reports and said Israel is coordinating with WHO and UNICEF.
Ambassador Margaret Bashir of Voice of America asked whether United Nations and aid agencies, which she said reported operations "practically a halt" in Gaza after a recent evacuation order, were being taken into account in Israeli military planning and whether Israel would grant a short ceasefire to allow a polio vaccination campaign.
Speaker 1 responded that "the reports are not correct," said Israel has coordination mechanisms with COGAT (spoken as "Cogut") and UN bodies including WHO and UNICEF, and that Israel "will work with WHO, and other organs to support all the campaigns to bring vaccines into Gaza." He also stated, "98 percent of the people in Gaza are vaccinated."
Ambassador Bashir specifically asked whether Israel would allow a pause for vaccination; Speaker 1 said Israel would work with humanitarian organizations to support vaccination campaigns, and thanked the questioner.
The transcript does not record an independent confirmation of aid agencies’ operational pauses, and no ceasefire was announced in the provided record. The polio campaign was described in questioning as planned to launch on Saturday; Speaker 1 said Israel would cooperate on vaccination logistics.
