The Israeli army denied today that it hit a clinic in the northern part of the Gaza Strip during an ongoing polio vaccination campaign.
On Saturday, the Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Health announced that Israeli fire struck the Sheikh Radwan clinic as parents were taking their children there for vaccination.
According to the same source, four children were injured in an explosion that occurred at a time and in an area where a humanitarian pause was in effect for polio vaccinations.
The Israeli army responded today that it had been made aware of this information but added that its initial investigation showed that its forces did not conduct any strikes at the time of the incident.
“Contrary to claims, the initial investigation concluded that the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) did not strike the area at that specific time,” it stated in a press release.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated that the incident occurred shortly after a WHO team was present at the clinic and emphasized that it jeopardized a campaign to provide vital health services. “These vital pauses in specific humanitarian areas must be fully respected. Ceasefire!” Tedros wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday.
The Israeli army regularly accuses Hamas of deliberately operating from areas populated by civilians in order to use them as human shields, a claim that the Palestinian organization denies.
