Although only one case of polio has been reported, at least six wastewater samples came back positive for traces of the virus in July, meaning it is probably circulating more widely.
“There is an increased risk that environmental samples will remain positive if we are not able to reach these children, and a risk that this will not be confined to Gaza,” said Mr Rose.
“Palestinians aren’t the only ones that are coming into contact with that water, Israeli soldiers are as well.”
As with the initial round of vaccinations last month, the second will be divided into three phases, with short six hour “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting. The campaign began in central Gaza, then travelled to the south and finally, in the hardest to reach north of the territory.
Each phase is planned to take three campaign days, along with one catch-up day for monitoring and reaching any children who were missed.
But many Palestinians fear it is too dangerous to travel to vaccination sites.
‘Moving is dangerous’
Displaced with thousands in Deir al-Balah city, Raed Baroud, 32, said that any kind of movement is considered “a risk [to their] lives”.
“Life has become different now. Moving is dangerous. No one knows where the bombing will take place, whether I am in a safe place or not,” he told The Telegraph.
Dr Khalil Al-Daqran, spokesman for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, added that there was “fear and anxiety” among the Palestinians.
“Despite the spread of vaccination centres everywhere, this does not mean that citizens can reach them,” he told The Telegraph.
It comes after a volley of Israeli artillery ignited a lethal fire that ripped through a tent camp at Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, in the early hours of Monday, just hours before the start of the second phase of the vaccination rollout in the middle region.
An image of a person burning alive among the ravaged tents was shared widely on social media. At least four people were killed and dozens injured, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.
