UNRWA head says polio campaign may be paused after IDF detained convoy

[moniss]

This is the headline from a joint Reuters/Times of Israel report. Apparently, despite this convoy of personnel and vehicles used for the polio vaccine campaign having been given authorization, they were taken into custody at a check point and while being detained the IDF had bulldozers come along and inflict damage to the vehicles. The IDF is apparently claiming justification because it had information that "suspects" were in the convoy. Although no "suspects" were found.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/unrwa-head-says-polio-campaign-may-be-paused-after-idf-detained-convoy/

[Beastly Boy]

1. UNRWA head seems to be unsure of WTF he is talking about.

Polio vaccination starts in north Gaza despite obstacles

GAZA/GENEVA (Reuters) -A campaign to vaccinate a final 200,000 children in north Gaza against polio began on Tuesday although health and aid officials said the operation was complicated by access restrictions, evacuation orders and shortages of fuel.

The campaign in north Gaza, the part of the territory hardest hit by Israel's 11-month military offensive against Hamas militants, follows the vaccination of more than 446,000 Palestinian children in central and south Gaza earlier this month. Medical staff had started administering vaccines in the north despite a dire need for fuel, among other challenges, said Dr. Moussa Abed of the primary care unit in Gaza's health ministry.

Vaccination centres are in areas that are militarily very active, difficult to reach and isolated if things go wrong, said Sam Rose, a deputy director of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA."There are some nerves, but we'll have to make it work," he told Reuters by text message

On Monday, Israel stopped a convoy that included vehicles and fuel for the vaccination campaign as well as a World Health Organization team trying to get to Gaza's Al Shifa hospital and the mission had to be aborted, the WHO's Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in a briefing.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/polio-vaccination-starts-north-gaza-105038820.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall

The convoy Israel stopped included vehicles and fuel for vaccination campaign. It was not exclusively made up of vehicles designated for the rollout of the vaccination campaign. And it didn't carry any vaccines.

And, polio vaccinations started in Northern Gaza as scheduled, apparently unaffected by the detention of the convoy.

[moniss]

2. Maybe if you read further

on the matter you'd find that the fuel was for the vehicles used to go from one vaccination site to another so having vaccines in the convoy was never an issue or claimed. But most people understand that without fuel vehicles can't run and go place to place. So the article you linked makes reference to lack of fuel being one of the things that was an "obstacle" to smooth operation. Just because the program began, which nobody ever said it didn't, does not mean that as many were vaccinated as would have been if not for the purposeful interference with the convoy and the damage inflicted to the vehicles by the bulldozers.

But it follows a pattern of the IDF making claims that aid is flowing unfettered when in fact previously approved moves are held at checkpoints for long periods or are turned away. This convoy was pre-authorized and I suspect the fact that it was UNRWA was motivation enough for people to screw around with it.

[Beastly Boy]

3. I did read further.

And indeed the vaccines themselves were never the issue. Neither was the timing of the vaccination campaign affected by the entire convoy, which was only partially and indirectly meant to assist it. As expected, contrary to Mr. Lazzarini's concerns, the convoy played no role in the timing of the final stage of vaccination campaign, and the campaign was not paused as Mr. Lazzarini hypothesized it would be.

That's exactly my point. But I will concede: maybe Mr. Lazzarini knew exactly WTF he was talking about, but what he said was not meant to be as much a factual statement as an over the top dramatic performance.

[moniss]

4. Come now the article you cited

clearly calls out fuel availability being an obstacle as well as referencing a lack of available transportation for being an obstacle. To what degree it impacted the number vaccinated in this early stage the articles do not tell us nor do I think defining it is a priority for the medical people right now. It should be noted that the WHO personnel in the convoy were not allowed to proceed to the hospital mentioned to bring aid. As I said it is not about whether the campaign started on time. It was a concern about the progression through the days. I believe this is what he meant when he said might have to "suspend" since you use that word for something that has begun. Regardless the entire convoy was preauthorized and the conduct at the checkpoint and purposeful damage to vehicles was inappropriate.

[Beastly Boy]

5. That's not the only thing it cited, is it?

Medical staff had started administering vaccines in the north despite a dire need for fuel, among other challenges, said Dr. Moussa Abed of the primary care unit in Gaza's health ministry.

The article also cited, quoting Sam Rose:

Vaccination centres are in areas that are militarily very active, difficult to reach and isolated if things go wrong, said Sam Rose, a deputy director of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

"There are some nerves, but we'll have to make it work," he told Reuters by text message.

Notwithstandind Mr. Lazzarini's dramatic displays of "some nerves" about his convoy, the process was not delayed.

Do you seriously think that stopping a convoy suspected of harboring Hamas militants for eight hours makes the slightest of dents in a "very active military area"?

[moniss]

6. Once again just because the process

started does not mean there weren't delays. The process as planned for the resupply of fuel was most certainly delayed. It's all part of a coordinated plan to have resources and personnel at certain places at certain times. Just because they could overcome the obstacles for today doesn't mean they weren't obstacles and it doesn't mean that it was appropriate for the IDF to make this process harder rather than easier. That sure is some definition of "ceasefire areas" while the vaccines are given. People reporting shelling and gunfire. Some ceasefire. Besides as I said Lazzarini was talking about might have to "suspend" what had begun. He knew it began and I don't read the article as him claiming they couldn't start but rather as I said before it was about continuation if they didn't have fuel. You do know that these vaccines are temperature sensitive and must be cooled right? So you also need fuel for that. Another of umpteen pre-approved convoys supposedly harboring militants stopped and held for hours and hours and yet no militants. How long before this becomes a phrase written on a card that everyone is told to say?

[Beastly Boy]

7. Your article is dated today, 1:03 am. My article is (up)dated today, 10:05 am EDT.

Eight hours span between the two. What kind of a delay can there possibly be? Say something stupid, take a nap and wake up to the news that you said something stupid eight hours ago?

Even if Reuters published its article at exactly the same time the first vaccination occurred, this would have been 5 pm local time.

That's the delay?

And you are only speculating that this may or may not have been the delay attributable to this convoy. And, considering the multitude of other potential reasons, it is highly unlikely that it was, even in the most hypothetical of terms.

BTW, the start of the final stage of the vaccination campaign was scheduled for TODAY, no precise time frame specified. It started TODAY. It was reported TODAY. This DOES mean there were no delays, whether due to the convoy being stopped or the aforementioned multitude of other reasons, and contrary to what Mr. Lazzarini ventured to speculate on.

That's more than enough to conclude that the convoy in question had no bearing on the scheduled vaccinations. And given UNRWA record of employing Hamas operatives, delaying the single convoy suspected of transporting a Hamas operative is more than justified. If Mr Lazzarini wants no delays, he better make sure he doesn't get caught red handed employing Hamas operatives.