Israel-Gaza live updates: Ambulance crew shot at by Israeli forces in West Bank

One of the world's most challenging vaccination campaigns is now underway as UNICEF and the World Health Organization lead the effort to vaccinate 640,000 of Gaza's children against polio.

Gaza historically had a very high rate of vaccination against polio, but this has slipped since the start of the war, due to the difficulties accessing basic medical care amidst the destruction of medical infrastructure and displacement of families. Polio primarily affects children under 5, and has no cure or treatment.

Gaza has an extremely young population, with a little over a million children under 18 -- 47% of total population. The Palestinian bureau of statistics estimates there are 341,790 children under 5, which includes over 20,000 babies born between Oct. 7, 2023 and April 2024. All those children urgently require protection against the devastating polio virus.

The pauses will last 8 hours each day. The WHO said in a press briefing that Israel has agreed to extend the pauses by one day in each area if the campaign does not reach the 90% vaccination threshold in time.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society, which provides ambulance service in the West Bank, said Israeli forces opened fire on one of their crews in Jenin Saturday, despite prior coordination of its entry into the camp.

In addition to the incident Saturday, shots were fired at an ambulance Thursday, injuring a volunteer doctor and the crew of the ambulance, the Jenin spokesman for the PRCS told ABC News.

Israeli forces continue to block entry to hospital and are conducting arbitrary searches of ambulance crews, the spokesman said.

The Israeli military said they are blocking hospitals to stop militants from taking cover there.

PRCS says they treated two more injuries Saturday.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said the death of an elderly man today brings the death toll since the beginning of the Israeli raid on the West Bank to 20 people.

Two incidents occurred in the West Bank over the last hour, Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

A car caught fire and exploded at a gas station. Israeli forces that arrived at the gas station killed the person who got out of the vehicle "and tried to attack them," the IDF said.

At least two civilians were injured from gunshot wounds at the gas station, and the IDF said "several casualties" were identified, and their families are being notified.

"There are several casualties in the events. Their families have been informed. The details are still under review," the IDF added.

In a separate incident, a security guard was attacked at the entrance to the settlement of Karmei Tzur, the IDF said.

"At this time, it is not possible to determine if there is a connection between the events," the statement said.

-ABC News' Anna Burd

An international aid convoy was targeted by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza, on Thursday, killing four Palestinians, Anera, an international aid organization based out of Washington, D.C., said in a press release Friday.

Four community members "with experience in previous missions" requested to take command of the lead vehicle in the convoy after leaving the Kerem Shalom crossing, "citing concerns the route was unsafe and at risk of being looted," Anera said in the release about the incident Friday.

"The four community members were neither vetted nor coordinated in advance, and Israeli authorities allege that the lead car was carrying numerous weapons. The Israeli airstrike was carried out without any prior warning or communication," Anera said.

The Israeli military said "armed individuals" joined one of the cars in the Anera-coordinated convoy and "began to lead the convoy, while the IDF was monitoring the situation," in a statement about the incident obtained by ABC News.

"After ruling out potential harm to the trucks, as well as a clear identification of weapons, a strike was carried out targeting the armed individuals," the IDF said.

No Anera staff members were harmed or killed in the incident, but one Anera employee who was in the second vehicle of the convoy "witnessed the incident at close range," Anera said in the release.

"Despite this attack, the remainder of the convoy continued its mission and successfully delivered the critical aid to the hospital," Anera said in the release.

This is the second instance of an aid vehicle being targeted by the Israeli military in Gaza this week. The World Food Programme announced it was pausing operations in Gaza Wednesday after a clearly marked aid vehicle was targeted by Israeli shelling Tuesday.

-ABC News' Anna Burd