GAZA – Israel has agreed to a series of pauses in fighting in Gaza in September to allow young children in the enclave to be vaccinated for polio, according to United Nations and Israeli officials.

Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s representative for the West Bank and Gaza, told a press briefing from a video link Thursday that the pause would start September 1 and will be split into three 3-day phases.  “We have a preliminary commitment for area-specific humanitarian pauses during the campaign,” he said, adding that the pauses will roll out first in “central Gaza for three days, followed by south Gaza and then followed by north Gaza.”

An Israeli official confirmed to CNN that polio vaccinations will begin in Gaza on September 1. Each phase of the vaccination campaign is expected to take around seven hours, and during those hours, the vaccines will be able enter the area on “pause” and be distributed. COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for approving aid into Gaza, did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for more information about how the distribution would be structured.

Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, said the militant group welcomed the push for a pause in Gaza to implement the vaccination drive. “We are ready to cooperate with international organizations to secure this campaign,” he added.

Since the war, Gaza’s near-universal polio vaccine coverage has dropped to just over 80%. Peeperkorn told the UN press briefing that more than 90% coverage was needed to stop the outbreak in the besieged Palestinian territory. He warned that the three-day periods “might not be enough to achieve adequate vaccination,” adding that it “has been agreed, when needed, the campaign will be extended by one day per zone, or even more when necessary.”  He added that it would be a two-round vaccination campaign with a four-week interval between the first and second doses. (CNN)…[+]