A polio vaccination campaign in north Gaza is expected to resume on Sunday, a day after the UN’s children’s agency, Unicef, said three children were injured in an attack “in the proximity” of a clinic.

The agency did not say who was responsible but an official from Gaza’s civil defence agency told AFP news agency it was carried out by an Israeli quadcopter. Israel said it is investigating but does not believe it was responsible.

Unicef, which is helping to lead the vaccination rollout, described the strike on the Sheikh Radwan clinic as “another example of the indiscriminate strikes on civilians”.

The second phase of the vaccine rollout began on Saturday after being postponed in October due to intense Israeli bombardments, mass displacement and lack of access in the region.

Gaza recorded its first case of polio in 25 years in August, which left a baby boy paralysed and prompted the rollout of the programme.

The immunisations are resuming as 15 UN and humanitarian organisations have described the situation in north Gaza as “apocalyptic” nearly a month after an Israeli ground offensive began.

A humanitarian pause in the fighting has been agreed upon to allow vaccinations to restart in Gaza City, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. The campaign will run for three days.

The WHO also said on Saturday it was extremely concerned by reports that Sheikh Radwan clinic was struck during the vaccination drive. It said six people, including four children, were injured.

About 15,000 children under 10 years old in towns across north Gaza, such as Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, “still remain inaccessible” and will be missed by the vaccination campaign, compromising its effectiveness, the agency said.

The WHO had aimed to give 119,000 children in the area a second dose of the oral polio vaccine.

The agency added that achieving this target “is now unlikely due to access constraints”.

The first round of the vaccine campaign successfully reached 559,000 children under 10 years old over three phases in south, central and north Gaza between 1 and 12 September, during which there were local “humanitarian pauses” agreed by Israel and Palestinian groups.

However, the area agreed in the latest humanitarian pause “has been substantially reduced” compared to the first round of vaccinations and is now limited to just Gaza City, according to the WHO.

From the start of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza, medical experts stressed that delays in administering the second dose could jeopardise overall efforts to halt transmission of the contagious, potentially deadly disease.

To interrupt transmission, at least 90% of all children need to be given a minimum of two doses.

The UN human rights chief said last week that the Gaza war’s “darkest moment” is unfolding in the north of the territory.

Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed since the Israeli military launched a ground offensive in Beit Lahia as well as neighbouring Jabalia and Beit Hanoun on 6 October, saying it was acting against regrouping Hamas fighters.

At least 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate from north Gaza towards Gaza City for safety, the WHO said.

The joint statement from UN agencies, including the WHO, released on Friday, said the situation was “apocalyptic”, with the entire Palestinian population in the area “at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence”.

The UN estimates that about 100,000 residents remain in dire conditions, with severe shortages of food, water and medical supplies.

The US warned Israel this week to immediately increase humanitarian aid into Gaza as a deadline approaches to boost aid or face cuts to American military assistance. The US envoy to the UN said on Tuesday that Israel’s words “must be matched by action”, which was “not happening”.

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 43,300 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Mexico’s former champion Moreno scored 49-46, 50-45, 50-45 against Iraq’s Albazi, who was on a six-fight winning streak.

Brandon Moreno used his crisp boxing to snap Amir Albazi’s six-fight winning streak and win by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Through three rounds on Saturday night, the former flyweight champion dominated Albazi (17-2) in significant strikes and finished with a 132-63 advantage in that category. Albazi’s vision in his right eye was significantly compromised early in the fight.

The judges scored it 49-46, 50-45, 50-45.

“I feel like a new guy, a new person,” said Moreno (22-8-2), who bounced back from back-to-back losses.

Erin Blanchfield won a decision against former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas in the women’s flyweight co-main event. The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 48-47. Blanchfield (13-2) used her wrestling moves to stifle Namajunas’s (14-7) potent striking ability throughout the final 15 minutes of action.

Brazil’s Brendson Ribeiro beat Caio Machado by a split decision in a light-heavyweight bout. The judges scored it 29-28, 28-29, 29-28. Both men traded shots, but neither could find the necessary volume to end the fight. Ribeiro (16-7) earned his first UFC win, while Machado (8-4-1) remains winless in the promotion.

Jasmine Jasudavicius (12-3) ignited the Edmonton crowd with a third-round d’arce choke submission against Ariane da Silva (17-10) in women’s flyweight action. Jasudavicius has won four out of her past five fights, earning the fifth finish of her MMA career. Da Silva has lost two in a row.

Middleweight Dustin Stoltzfus pulled off the upset against Canadian Marc-Andre Barriault with a first-round TKO. Stoltzfus (16-6) earned his first win in nearly a year. Barriault (16-9) suffered his third loss in a row.

Welterweight Mike Malott opened the main card with a win by unanimous decision against Trevin Giles. The judges had it 30-27, 29-28, 29-28. Malott (11-2-1) won for the sixth time in his seven fights since December 2020. Giles (16-7) has lost three consecutive fights.

The fate of the election is expected to be determined by the seven battleground states, which are being heavily courted.

United States presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are touring southern swing states as they try to attract voters with just three days left until Election Day.

The Democratic and Republican leaders headed to the southern battleground state of North Carolina on Saturday.

It marked the fourth day in a row that Vice President Harris and former president Trump visited the same state on the same day, further emphasising how votes will likely decide the election outcome in a few key states that polls have projected will be close.

They were both in North Carolina on Wednesday, Nevada on Thursday and Wisconsin on Friday, at one point holding events just a few kilometres from each other as they fought over the swing states.

The two candidates took big hits against each other, focusing on how the other party would be bad for the US while also touching on a string of issues like the economy and immigration.

“We win this state, we’re gonna win the whole ball game,” Trump said in his Gastonia, North Carolina speech. “We won it twice before, and we’re gonna win it easily.” He also repeated the false claim that there had been “cheating” in the 2020 presidential election vote.

Trump was planning a visit to Salem, Virginia,  before heading back to North Carolina.

Harris said there is an opportunity to “turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump” in a speech.

“This is not someone speaking about how to make your life better,” she told the crowd in Georgia’s Atlanta, saying she plans to improve standards of living.

The vice president also tried to strike a message of unity, saying her priorities would include a middle-class tax cut and bringing down the cost of living for Americans.

After the Georgia speech, Harris will head to a rally in North Carolina where the rock star Jon Bon Jovi is expected to make an appearance.

In one of the latest clashes among the two parties, which brought highly differing takes on major issues, Democrats hit out at US House Speaker Mike Johnson. The Republican suggested that the GOP would probably try to cut government subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing if it wins.

Johnson later walked back his comments, claiming he meant that Republicans would “streamline” the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act that has injected billions of dollars into producing computer chips in the US.

In the national polls, Harris is holding on to a slight lead. In polls of the seven key swing states, Trump is ahead in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, while Harris maintains single-point leads in Michigan and Wisconsin. Pennsylvania and Nevada are even.

The election looms on November 5, but millions have already cast their ballots in recent weeks.

As of Saturday, more than 72 million votes had already been cast, according to a tracker maintained by the University of Florida, which said that more than half of all voters are expected to cast their ballots before election day.

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DNA gold rush

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What happens to the DNA?