World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said polio vaccination teams in Gaza must be “protected and allowed to conduct the upcoming campaign in Gaza safely”.

“We urge all parties to ensure their protection, and that of health facilities and children,” Tedros said in a post on social media.

The WHO chief made his call in a week that saw four security staff with an aid convoy killed in an Israeli air strike and a vehicle with the UN’s World Food Program sprayed with Israeli bullets near a checkpoint.