The third and last phase of the polio vaccination campaign [was] implemented in northern Gaza from Sept. 9 to Sept. 11, with the goal of reaching around 150,000 children.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine “commended the efforts of medical teams and institutions working in the Gaza Strip under the ongoing genocide, carrying out the polio vaccination campaign despite the ongoing bombings and crimes, as an expression of the Palestinian people’s struggle against the criminal genocide system.” (Resistance News Network, Sept. 3)

In a video entitled “Polio Strikes Gaza: How Israel is Using Disease as a Weapon,” produced by Rania Khalek, featuring Lebanese doctor and researcher Anis Germany, Khalek states, “It’s essentially like going into Auschwitz in the middle of the Holocaust. We’re not gonna stop the death camp; we’ll go in and vaccinate everybody, so they don’t cause a problem for the rest of the world.”

Dr. Germany points out that by destroying all health facilities in Gaza, blockading all food and water, destroying the sewage system and killing thousands of people whose bodies rot under the rubble of their homes, the […] occupying force has laid the basis for many epidemics, including polio, which are now raging through Gaza.

He also states in the video that “there is an active policy to promote the spread of infectious disease across Gaza.” He quotes a retired [neocolonial] army general as saying, “We should allow and promote the spread of diseases […] to win with the least amount of Israeli casualties.”

While there has been some progress in the polio vaccination program in Gaza despite [neocolonial] military interference, the point has been made by many that the real solution for the people of Gaza is a permanent ceasefire and complete withdrawal of [neocolonial] troops. The people of Gaza need to be “vaccinated” against the [settlers].