Gaza, Sep 1: The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 40,738, the Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Sunday.

During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 47 people and wounded 94 others, bringing the total death toll to 40,738 and injuries to 94,154 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out on October 7, 2023, it added.

On Sunday, the first phase of polio vaccination began in the middle areas of Gaza, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said on social media platform X.

"For this to work, parties to the conflict must respect the temporary area pauses. For the sake of children across the region, a lasting ceasefire is overdue," Lazzarini added.

Israel and Hamas had agreed to halt hostilities in Gaza for a polio vaccination campaign led by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Rik Peeperkorn, head of the WHO office for the West Bank and Gaza, said on Thursday.

He said the first two rounds of the vaccines would be administered from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time in Gaza's central region for three days, followed by three days in the southern region and finally three days in the north.

Many victims remain trapped under rubble and in inaccessible areas, with ambulance and civil defence teams unable to reach them.

On the 331st day of the war, the Israeli aircraft continue to bomb various locations across Gaza, causing further casualties and extensive destruction to the Strip's infrastructure.

--IANS

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