It’s April 2023 in the Gaza Strip. Parents are forming an orderly queue outside their neighbourhood health clinic, waiting to get their babies their life-saving immunizations. Demand is high, but the system is running smoothly and vaccines are readily available. The jabs prompt tears here and there, but parents calmly comfort their children and get their records stamped—heading home knowing that their little ones have been gifted the hope of a healthier future. 

Fast forward two years and the picture could not be more different. 

It’s April 2025 in the Gaza Strip. The neighbourhood health clinic has been destroyed. Families have been forced to flee multiple times due to the ongoing hostilities. Parents are exhausted and weak from malnutrition, giving the precious little food they can get hold of to their children. They desperately want to get them vaccinated, but the journey to the nearest functioning clinic is fraught with danger. Mothers and fathers find themselves asking: do we risk diseases today, or bombs? They try their best to soothe their children’s tears, but they are constant now. 

It's in this stark new reality that Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) medical teams and volunteers have been striving to keep their communities healthy and safe.  

Since April 2025, they’ve been working against all odds to set up and run routine immunization services aiming to protect some of the hardest-to-reach children in Gaza from entirely preventable diseases such as polio, measles and rubella. This work is carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Health, with support from IFRC, and with financial support from Gavi, which is providing vaccines procured through UNICEF and contributing to operational costs. 

Here’s what two Palestine Red Crescent doctors involved in the project have to say. 

My name is Dr Bashar Murad, Director of the Primary Health Care Department. I’m originally from northern Gaza, but I’m now living with my family in Khan Younis. We’ve been displaced eight times since the start of the conflict. 

I’ve worked for the Palestine Red Crescent since 2000, and I’m currently running our immunization programme in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Gavi and UNICEF.