WHO data on polio vaccination program for children in Gaza challenges genocide claims

Newly released numbers from the World Health Organization (WHO) confirms that a higher number of Gazan children under 10 were vaccinated against Polio than the total number of children in that age group before the war, showing population increase – the opposite of what might be expected in a genocide.

According to WHO figures, nearly 603,000 Gazan children under 10 received the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) in a program that was completed last Wednesday, a statistic which has been picked up by those seeking to challenge claims that Israel is deliberately trying to kill Palestinian children.

“The WHO – not Hamas or Israel – delivered one of the most decisive Gaza war data points,” wrote Salo Aizenberg, author and 'HonestReporting' board member in a post on 𝕏. 

“Children aged 10 in Gaza were under 600,000 pre-war, with about 55-60,000 births per year. The WHO data also proves births during the war were similar or even higher than pre-war,” he explained.

Aizenberg pointed out that the coordination of the vaccine program itself was evidence that Israel wanted to help Gazan children rather than hurt them.

“Ask why Israel would allow mass life-saving vaccinations if ‘genocide’ were the intent,” Aizenberg wrote, insisting that offering free healthcare and vaccinations is not the typical behavior of a regime seeking to wipe out a people group.

📌The WHO—not Hamas or Israel—delivered one of the most decisive Gaza war data points. It reported 603,000 children under 10 vaccinated in early 2025—MORE than the pre-war population of that age group! Every claim of excessive or undercounted fatalities collapses with this data. pic.twitter.com/HmfRJuY1zT

— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) January 21, 2026

The vaccination program, logged by the WHO on their public dashboard, was conducted in three rounds covering all five governorates of Gaza in effort to prevent the spread of the disease. Two previous rounds were conducted in September and October 2024 after the virus had been detected in the Gaza Strip.

The IDF reported the successful completion of the first two vaccination campaigns, via COGAT and in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, for children in Gaza:

“The IDF via COGAT has facilitated the delivery of over 355,000 vials of vaccines against the polio virus – a quantity that is sufficient to vaccinate over 4,800,000 civilians. In addition, 619,332 vials of vaccines against a series of diseases and epidemics have been delivered – a quantity that is sufficient to vaccinate over 5,600,000 civilians.”

According to WHO, the third campaign was conducted by the Palestinian Ministry of Health and implemented with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and other partners.