World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has renewed his call for a ceasefire in Gaza after Israeli attacks prevented tens of thousands of children from receiving their second polio doses.

“Having a significant number of children miss out on their second vaccine dose will seriously jeopardise efforts to stop the transmission of poliovirus in Gaza,” he wrote in a post on X.

The WHO earlier said “intense bombardments, mass displacements and lack of access” in northern Gaza have forced the programme to halt.