Palestinian PM to Visit Gaza for First Time in Years

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah (R) speaks during a joint press conference at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 25, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah (R) speaks during a joint press conference at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 25, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
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Palestinian PM to Visit Gaza for First Time in Years

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah (R) speaks during a joint press conference at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 25, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah (R) speaks during a joint press conference at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 25, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The Palestinian government announced that it will hold a meeting in Gaza next Tuesday to turn the page of the administrative committee formed by Hamas and give the green light for the ministries and institutions in Gaza Strip.

Spokesman for the Palestinian government Youssef al-Mahmoud said, “Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has decided after consulting with President Mahmoud Abbas that the government will hold its weekly meeting in Gaza next week.”

“Hamdallah and members of the government will arrive in Gaza next Monday to start taking over government responsibilities after Hamas announced its agreement to dissolve the administrative committee and enable the government to assume its full responsibilities,” he added.

Hamdallah determined the purposes behind the government’s visit to Gaza, saying that he aims at knowing all the conditions by which the government will work to tackle consequences of the siege, division, and repetitive Israeli aggression.

Hamas welcomed the arrival of the government of Hamdallah to Gaza Strip. A meeting was held in Gaza, in the presence of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, to brief attendees on the outcome of the delegation's visit to Cairo and the agreements reached in the sponsorship of Egyptian intelligence.

Haniyeh affirmed that reconciliation is a strategic decision as he welcomed the government’s intention to visit Gaza, assuring that Hamas would provide all required facilities to let it perform its tasks.

In a later statement, the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces stressed the importance of restoring national unity in Palestine and ending divisions. They also lauded efforts of Egypt in supporting the nation’s causes as well as Hamas dissolving the administrative committee in Gaza Strip to resume implementation of the reconciliation.



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.