A 10-month-old Palestinian baby suddenly stopped crawling. Polio had struck Gaza
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Suddenly, he stopped crawling, stopped moving, stopped standing up, and stopped sitting.” Health care workers in Gaza have been warning of the potential for a polio outbreak for months, as the humanitarian crisis unleashed by Israel’s offensive on the strip only grows. The Abuel-Jedian family, like many, now live in a crowded tent camp, near heaps of garbage and dirty wastewater flowing into the streets that aid workers describe as breeding grounds for diseases like polio, spread through fecal matter. Back in the family's tent in Deir Al-Balah, Nevine Abuel-Jedian gazed at her youngest boy, lying still in a plastic car seat-turned bassinet as her seven other children gathered around.