On Thursday, the United Nations announced a plan to try to address one of the most terrifying consequences of Israel’s U.S.-backed offensive war in the Gaza Strip: the return of the feared poliovirus to the Palestinian territory.

Health experts call the U.N. campaign a hugely important bid to protect hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza and to shield neighboring communities — but they are unsure whether it will work, as fighting between Israel and Gaza-based militant group Hamas continues.

Polio had been wiped out in Gaza as it has in much of the world, with its last case reported 25 years ago. Yet Israel’s military operation, which followed a Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023, destroyed the area’s water and medical facilities and forced nearly 2 million people out of their homes. This created conditions in which the virus […]