Borrell calls for three-day ceasefire to curb polio spread in Gaza

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has called for an immediate three-day humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to allow the population to be vaccinated against the fast-spreading poliovirus.

“I urge an immediate 3-day humanitarian ceasefire to enable vaccination by WHO (the World Health Organisation) and UNICEF (the UN’s children fund) – independent of wider negotiations. Our humanity demands it,” Borrell said in a post on X.

The type 2 poliovirus (cVDPV2) was first detected in sewage samples in Gaza in July. On August 16, the enclave’s first confirmed case of polio in 25 years was detected in an unvaccinated 10-month-old baby, who has since been paralysed but is said to be in a stable condition.

The poliovirus causes an illness, known as polio, which can in severe cases lead to irreversible paralysis.

Humanitarian experts say the re-emergence of the disease in Gaza is due to the devastating impacts of war, which has disrupted vaccination programmes and damaged water and sanitation systems.

The WHO has called for all parties to cease hostilities to allow vaccination campaigns to take place. On Monday, more than 1.2 million doses were brought to Gaza, according to the UN, Israel and Gazan health authorities, with plans to vaccinate over 640,000 children.

But the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, is warning that displacement orders by Israeli authorities are severely disrupting humanitarian orders.

“People have nowhere to go and there is no way to find safety. There is very limited access to humanitarian resources, because the humanitarian operations are also being displaced within these evacuation orders,” Louise Wateridge, Senior Communications Officer for UNRWA, said.

Human Rights Watch, an NGO, says that the mass displacement orders, as well as continuous attacks on healthcare infrastructure and water supplies, are inflaming the “potentially catastrophic polio outbreak” in the war-shattered enclave.

“The quick spread of polio threatens all children in Gaza, already weakened by displacement, deprivation and malnourishment,” Borrell also said in his statement.

On Thursday, Borrell will convene the EU’s foreign ministers in Brussels for an informal meeting, where the bloc’s response to the war in Gaza will feature high on the agenda.

The EU been calling for a humanitarian pause in Gaza since March, but its diplomatic weight has been undermined by deep rifts between member states’ stances on the conflict.