A child born around the time last year, when Israel ordered a total blockade of all humanitarian aid to Gaza, is now paralyzed by the type 2 poliovirus. Health officials have been warning for weeks that the virus has been found in the enclave’s wastewater, due to the complete destruction of its health and sanitation systems.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), confirmed on Friday that the 10-month-old baby has lost movement in his lower left leg after contracting polio.

The child had not been vaccinated due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza since October last year. Among the buildings hit were homes, schools and hospitals.

The Israeli attack and the near-total blockade of humanitarian aid, including medical supplies and medicines, has made it impossible for doctors to maintain childhood vaccination schedules, leaving children under the age of five at greatest risk of contracting polio.

The collapse of sanitation has left the population vulnerable to the virus, which spreads mainly through the fecal-oral route and can affect the nervous system.

“How can we run an effective campaign and reach the children who desperately need that protection, even if the Israeli authorities allow polio vaccines, while the largest aid workers in Gaza are constantly being shuffled from one place to another?”

Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported last month that traces of the virus had been found in sewage from Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.

After it was revealed last week that the child had polio, the UN called for a temporary pause in the fighting to allow a vaccination campaign to take place. Hamas supports this demand.

But Israeli forces on Thursday issued the final evacuation order for Deir al-Balah, where the child paralyzed by the disease lives.

According to the United Nations, the mass forced displacement of people in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah this month has led to the disruption of essential health services, including polio vaccination campaigns, in some of the few parts of Gaza that still have functioning infrastructure.

“Even if the Israeli authorities allow polio vaccines in, and the biggest aid workers in Gaza are constantly being shuffled around, how can we run an effective campaign and reach the children who desperately need that protection? If you want to understand the access situation, this is it, not the flow of trucks being allowed in exceptionally,” said Jeremy Stoner, regional director for the Middle East for Save the Children.

The WHO said Friday it plans to work with other UN agencies to launch two rounds of a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza in late August and September.

“It is not enough to bring the vaccines to Gaza,” said Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). “To have an impact, the vaccines must reach the mouths of every child under the age of 10. UNRWA medical teams will administer the vaccines in our clinics and through our mobile health teams.”

Akshaya Kumar, crisis manager at Human Rights Watch, noted that the paralyzed child “has only known Gaza through a siege, airstrikes and an evacuation order.”

According to Palestinian political analyst Nour Odeh, there have been no confirmed cases of polio in Gaza for more than two decades.

“Genocide is a process”, said Odeh, “and it’s not just about the number of people slaughtered.”