The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has appealed for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to safeguard children in the area from polio.

He said that it is planned to kick off a polio vaccination campaign from September 1. "We welcome the commitment to humanitarian pauses in specific areas and suspension of evacuation orders for the implementation of the campaign," he said, adding that he hopes that all the parties will observe these pauses.

"But the only lasting medicine is peace. The only way to fully protect all the children of Gaza is a ceasefire," he stressed.

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