A health official has said a polio vaccination campaign has begun in Gaza after the battered territory recorded its first case of the disease in a quarter of a century.

Local health officials, along with the UN and NGOs, “are starting today the polio vaccination campaign in the central region”, Moussa Abed, director of primary health care at the Gaza health ministry, told AFP.

Bakr Deeb told AFP that he brought his three children — all under 10 — to a vaccination point despite some initial doubts about its safety.

“I was hesitant at first and very afraid of the safety of this vaccination,” he said.

“After the assurances of its safety, and with all the families going to the vaccination points, I decided to go with my children as well, to protect them.”

Abed stressed that the vaccine was “100 per cent safe”.