The Gaza health ministry said in a statement that it is still awaiting vaccines for a UN-backed mass-vaccination campaign after Gaza recorded its first polio case last week, Al Jazeera reports.

“In order to reach every child, we need safe conditions, and this requires a ceasefire during the campaign,” the statement reads, echoing comments from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“It is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over,” Guterres had told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York on August 16.

The UN chief added that the organisation is poised to launch a polio vaccine campaign in Gaza for children under the age of 10, but he said the “challenges are grave”.