A pause in Israeli attacks on Gaza began on Sunday morning as the UN launched polio vaccinations, hoping to inoculate more than 600,000 children after the disease re-emerged in the strip for the first time in 25 years. There was no immediate report of morning air strikes on the enclave, where about 40,700 people have been killed since the war began in October. Health workers hope to vaccinate at least 90 per cent of children up to 10 years old – an enormous task in the besieged territory, which has been left without a single fully functioning hospital or water sanitation system.
