The World Health Organization said Thursday it has reached an agreement with Israel for limited pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for polio vaccinations for hundreds of thousands of children after a baby contracted the first confirmed case in 25 years in the Palestinian territory.

Described as "humanitarian pauses" that will last three days in different areas of the war-ravaged territory, the vaccination campaign will start Sunday in central Gaza, said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories.

That will be followed by another three-day pause in southern Gaza and then another in northern Gaza, he said, noting that the pauses will last eight or nine hours each day.

He said he expects health workers might need additional days to complete the vaccinations. More than 2,000 health workers will take part, including UN agencies and the Gaza Health Ministry.

Peeperkorn told reporters via video conference that they aim to vaccinate 640,000 children under 10 and that the campaign has been coordinated with Israeli authorities.

"We need this humanitarian pause," he said. "And that has been very clear. We have an agreement on that, so we expect that all parties will stick to that."

More to come