CAIRO: Israeli forces killed at least 48 Palestinians in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said, on Monday, while medics conducted a second day of polio vaccinations for children in the enclave.
Palestinian and UN officials said more than 80,000 children were vaccinated in central areas of Gaza on Sunday, the first day of the campaign.
Hamas and Israel have agreed to brief pauses in fighting to allow the campaign to vaccinate some 640,000 children to go ahead. No violations have been reported near vaccination facilities.
Seven Palestinians were killed in two Israeli air strikes on Gaza City, Palestinian officials said on Monday, while two air strikes killed six others in Bureij and Nuseirat, two of the Gaza Strip's eight historic refugee camps.
UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee agency, repeated its call on Monday for an immediate ceasefire to help ensure a successful and safe polio vaccination campaign.
"On first day only, @UNRWA teams and partners reached around 87,000 children according to @WHO. Efforts are ongoing to provide children with this key vaccine, but what they need most is a #CeasefireNow," it said on the X social media platform.
Parents continued bringing their infants to be vaccinated at medical facilities on Monday. The World Health Organization (WHO) says a drop in routine vaccinations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Gaza, has contributed to the re-emergence of polio in the area.
FINAL PROPOSAL
Meanwhile, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri, responding to US President Joe Biden's comments that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was not doing enough for a Gaza ceasefire, said on Monday that this was a US acknowledgement that Netanyahu was undermining efforts.
Zuhri added that any proposal for a permanent ceasefire and complete Israeli withdrawal will be received positively.
Biden said on Monday he was close to presenting a final proposal for a deal to release captives held by Hamas in Gaza and said he did not think Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was doing enough to secure such an agreement.
Biden was speaking to reporters at the White House after Israeli forces over the weekend recovered the bodies of six captives, including 23-year-old American Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, from a tunnel in Gaza.
Asked if he was planning to present a final deal to both sides this week, Biden said: "We're very close to that."
"Hope springs eternal," he added when asked whether a deal would be successful.
The latest deaths sparked more criticism of the Biden administration's Gaza ceasefire strategy in the midst of the US presidential campaign and ratcheted up pressure on Netanyahu from Israelis to bring the remaining captives home.
Asked whether he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a deal, Biden said "No." He did not elaborate.
Biden's fresh criticism of Netanyahu comes as he and Vice-President Kamala Harris, who has replaced the president at the top of the Democratic ticket for the November 5 election, face increased calls for decisive action to end the nearly 11-month-old war in Gaza.
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