Health authorities in the Gaza Strip announced on Monday that a polio epidemic had broken out across the Palestinian enclave, blaming Israeli military operations for the damage to sanitation and medical systems that had precipitated the spread of the deadly virus.
The health ministry said that years after polio was eradicated in Palestine the virus has once again been detected in wastewater in Khan Younis in southern Gaza and central parts of the strip, posing a health threat to the residents of Gaza and neighboring countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported that its researchers had found the polio virus in six sewage samples collected in Khan Younis and other places in Gaza Strip. The agency said it is "extremely worried" about the situation.
Gaza's health authority said it will work with the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the WHO and others to deal with the polio epidemic, but stated that it is more important to take steps to end the Israeli military operation in the strip and to address the root causes of the lack of available water and sanitation supplies and waste disposal.
Since the outbreak of the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in early October 2023, Gaza Strip has faced a serious humanitarian crisis, with people displaced, living conditions deteriorating and health systems severely hit, increasing the risk of infectious diseases.
Gaza's health ministry condemned the Israeli military offensive for depriving Gaza residents of usable water, destroying the local health infrastructure and leading to the accumulation of large amounts of waste.
Polio, which is spread mainly through human waste, is a highly contagious viral disease that attacks the nervous system and can cause paralysis within hours. It usually affects children younger than five years old, with symptoms including fever, headache, muscle pain and vomiting, and it can cause paralysis or death.
According to Al Jazeera, the Gaza Strip had a high polio vaccination rate of more than 95 percent before the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli armed conflict, but last year the figure dropped to 89 percent.
The escalation of Israeli military attacks in Gaza has damaged and destroyed water waste treatment systems, and sewage has spilled into the streets, creating a suitable environment for the spread of different diseases, Al Jazeera reported.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said on social media that polio emerges due to "a crumbling health system, lack of clean water and hygiene material, overcrowded shelters, and very poor sanitation."
There is no cure for polio, and vaccination is the most cost-effective way to prevent the disease. But vaccination efforts in Gaza have been hampered by continued fighting that has forced people, including some health workers, to flee.
WHO announced on Thursday that it will send more than 1 million doses of polio vaccine to the war-torn strip to vaccinate children in the coming weeks.
Gaza health ministry declares polio epidemic
Gaza health ministry declares polio epidemic
Gaza health ministry declares polio epidemic
Gaza health ministry declares polio epidemic
China will firmly fight against economic hegemony, advocate justice, and stick to the right path against the sweeping tariffs by the United States, and will open ever wider to the world no matter how the international situation changes, according to a commentary of The Real Point published on Sunday.
An edited English version of the commentary is as follows:
In response to the U.S. imposition of "reciprocal tariffs" on all trading partners, China issued the Chinese Governments Position on Opposing U.S. Abuse of Tariffs on Saturday, after taking a series of countermeasures.
The thousand-word document pointed out that the United States uses tariffs as a weapon to exert extreme pressure and pursue its own selfish interests, which is a typical act of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying.
The paper also emphasized that China does not provoke trouble but is not afraid of trouble, and will continue to implement a high-level trade and investment liberalization and facilitation policy to share development opportunities and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results with countries around the world.
Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told The Real Point that this position paper demonstrates China's high sense of responsibility to uphold fairness and justice without fear of power politics, which will be conducive to the efforts of the international community to pool together resultant forces and continue promoting economic globalization.
Meanwhile, China's determination to promote high-level opening-up has boosted the courage and confidence of other countries to fight against unilateral bullying and injected certainty into a changing and turbulent world, according to Li.
There are no winners in a trade war and there is no way out for protectionism. When the U.S. complains that the whole world is taking advantage of it, it deliberately distorts a fact that the U.S. is the biggest beneficiary of the world's free trade system since the end of World War II.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations with China in 1979, the United States has long been reaping substantial profits from its economic and trade ties with the country. More than 70,000 American companies have invested and started businesses in China, and exports to China supported 930,000 jobs in the United States, which maintained a huge surplus in service trade in particular.
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2023, the United States exported 46.72 billion U.S. dollars in services to China, and had a trade surplus of 26.57 billion U.S. dollars in services with China.
The Economist criticized the current U.S. trade policy for ignoring the unprecedented prosperity that globalization has brought to the United States.
The U.S. arbitrarily uses tariffs to blackmail other countries at will, attempting to sacrifice the interests of the whole world for U.S. hegemony. But any exertion of pressure and intimidation are useless to China.
This year, in the face of the continuous tariffs imposed by the United States, China has introduced a series of precise and effective measures, as one of the first countries taking countermeasures. The country's move is not only to safeguard its own sovereignty, security and development interests, but also to defend the multilateral trading system and international trade rules.
The world is not a jungle society, and everything must be fair and just. Development is a universal right of all countries in the world, not an exclusive right of a few countries.
The United States has unilaterally imposed tariffs on all its trading partners, violating the WTO's Most-Favored-Nation treatment principle and attempting to subvert the existing international economic and trade order. Its nature is to pursue "America first" and "America special" and deprive other countries of their legitimate right to development.
Over the past days, the European Union, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Canada and other countries have been criticizing the United States.
China's position paper clearly states that "international affairs should be addressed through consultation, and the future of the world should be decided by all countries", reflecting the common aspirations of the international community and China's consistent position of speaking and doing fair things.
While the United States continues to build "high walls around a small yard" and erect tariff barriers, China is constantly "opening its doors" and "building bridges and roads" to bring more opportunities to the world.
On March 28, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with representatives of the international business community in Beijing and reiterated that China is determined to promote reform and opening up, China's door will only open wider, and China's policy of welcoming foreign investment has not changed and will not change.
The China Development Forum 2025, held in Beijing from March 23 to 24, attracted more than 80 representatives of multinational companies, among which American companies made up the largest proportion, reaching about one-third.
A report released by global management consulting firm Kearney shows that in the ranking of foreign direct investment confidence in the next three years, China has jumped from 7th to 3rd, and ranked first in the special ranking of emerging markets.
At a time when the world is in turmoil and the United States is abusively imposing tariffs, China's position paper sends a strong message to the world about maintaining the multilateral trading system and promoting economic globalization.
The world wants justice, not hegemony. This is China's clear declaration and the common voice of the international community.
China opposes hegemony, upholds right path against sweeping U.S. tariffs: commentary
