This first day of the aforesaid phase immunized 161,000 children, Dujarric told the press.

After the completion of the first phase in the center of the enclave, over 500 vaccination teams traveled to the southern zone, the second stop of the campaign.

Additionally, four large health facilities in central Gaza will continue to offer the vaccine in the coming days, to ensure that no child is left without the immunogen, the spokesperson said.

The diplomat advanced that the third phase will be deployed to the north of the Strip between September 9 and 11, with an aim of vaccinating some 150,000 children below 10 years of age.

Dujarric insisted on the need to preserve the truce in hostilities for the rest of the process, a ceasefire that would equally allow the UN to engage in other critical humanitarian endeavors.

According to the spokesperson, the campaign further requires the truce to be extended to four weeks, so as to apply a second dose of the vaccine.

Ied/omr/lam/ebr