The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Israel has agreed to limited pauses in its bombing of Gaza in certain areas to allow children to be vaccinated against polio, which has returned to the Strip due to the Israeli blockade.

Vaccinations will begin in central Gaza on Sunday, when, according to the agreement, there will be a three-day pause in Israeli military attacks, said Rick Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the West Bank and Gaza.

An Israeli official said the pauses would only occur during the vaccination of children, which the official said was expected to take seven hours a day. That means outside of that time, the Israeli offensive would continue as usual.

After central Gaza, the vaccination campaign will then move to southern Gaza, where there will be another three-day pause, and then to the north for a final three days.

The goal is to vaccinate 640,000 children under 10, Peeperkorn said, but he was unsure whether the limited pause would be enough. Health officials have been calling for a full humanitarian ceasefire to administer the vaccines. “I wouldn’t say this is the ideal way forward. But it is a practical way forward,” Peeperkorn said.

Hamas said it supports the vaccination campaign and is "ready to cooperate with international organizations to secure the campaign."

The push for vaccinations came after a 10-month-old boy with paralysis in his left leg became the first confirmed case of polio in Gaza. According to the World Health Organization, two other children have been paralyzed by polio. For every paralysis, there are likely hundreds more who have been infected.