Last month, nearly a year into Israel’s genocidal war, there finally seemed to be a small dose of good news from the Gaza Strip. After the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare and wastewater management infrastructure, a widespread polio epidemic in the besieged territory appeared likely by mid-summer, when the disease was first detected in sewage samples; in early August, a 10-month-old baby contracted the disease and quickly became paralyzed. International media and aid organizations sounded the alarm, yet there seemed to be little chance of conducting a successful mass inoculation campaign in the absence of a ceasefire — an outcome that, after Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, grew further out of reach. ….more
