SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
In Gaza, the bodies of six hostages have been recovered by the Israeli military. All six were kidnapped when Hamas stormed the border into Israel on October 7, sparking the Gaza war. Among the dead is an Israeli American whose parents were recently on stage at the Democratic National Convention. At the same time, Israel continued airstrikes today but, in some parts of Gaza, observed a limited pause in fighting to allow a major polio vaccination campaign. NPR's Jane Arraf joins us from Beirut. Hey, Jane.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: Let's start with the hostages.
ARRAF: Well, the Israeli military said it recovered the six bodies from a tunnel in Rafah in southern Gaza and brought them back to Israel. The American was Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was 23. He was at a music festival when Hamas stormed the Israeli border. Five of the hostages were captured from that festival and the sixth from a nearby farm. Israel said the six had been shot shortly before its forces reached the tunnel. The Israeli government believes Hamas is still holding about 100 hostages in the midst of the ongoing war. As you know, Israel and Hamas have been negotiating a cease-fire and hostage release for months through negotiators with no success.
DETROW: Yeah. That cease-fire agreement seems very far away, but still there has been this limited pause in some parts to allow this polio vaccination campaign. Can you tell us more about that?
ARRAF: Yeah, Israel and Hamas did agree to a brief limited pause in the nearly 11-month-long war for the vaccinations. It's limited because they agreed to stop attacks for eight hours a day for three days while U.N. and Palestinian health authorities begin vaccinations today. Those vaccinations expected to continue for another three days at least.
DETROW: Any sense how it's going? I mean, it's a tricky dynamic to figure out.
ARRAF: It is. The U.N. says it's one of the most complex vaccination campaigns ever attempted. And it's needed because the first case of polio in 25 years in Gaza was confirmed in a paralyzed child last month. Our producer Anas Baba was in central Gaza for the start of it this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED NURSE: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: That was a nurse trying to persuade a little girl to open her mouth for the oral vaccine, so imagine that 600,000 times. The effort involves 2,700 health care workers vaccinating children under 10 years of age. Amal al Hanawi brought her four children, and she tells Baba she's worried since her children play next to an open sewer.
AMAL AL HANAWI: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Al Hanawi says there's no place for her kids to play. She says one night, she and the children had to sleep in the street near a garbage can. The World Health Organization says children will need a second polio vaccination again a month from now.
DETROW: Jane, can you just explain a little more about how this polio concern has emerged? - because this is a disease there has been such a global effort to stamp out, and here we are talking about it.
ARRAF: Yeah. That's because in the past three decades, polio has been almost eradicated in most of the world. In Gaza, it's at risk of spreading because Gaza's sanitation and water treatment infrastructure has been pretty much destroyed, and it spreads in conditions where there's a lack of clean water and proper toilets. And the concern, of course, is that it could spread beyond Gaza, partly through underwater aquifers, and even make its way to the U.S.
DETROW: That's NPR's Jane Arraf in Beirut. Thank you so much.
ARRAF: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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