Israeli strikes kill 10 Syrians in Lebanon, 15 family members in Gaza
Israeli air strikes have killed 10 Syrian citizens in southern Lebanon and 15 Palestinians from the same family in the Gaza Strip.
In Lebanon, a bombing of a residential building in the city of Nabatieh late Friday night killed at least 10 Syrian refugees, including two children, according to the state news agency National News Agency (NNA).
In Gaza, a strike on Saturday morning in the town of al-Zawaida killed 15 members of the Ajlah family, including nine children and three women, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence.
Israeli forces said they struck a “Hezbollah weapons storage facility… in the area of Nabatieh”, but they did not comment on the 10 people killed.
The death toll from the attack is among the highest on the Lebanese side since Israel began exchanging fire with Hezbollah on 8 October.
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An Israeli military spokesperson said they were “aware” of reports that 15 people were killed in Gaza and are investigating, according to Reuters.
This escalation came as another round of negotiations in Doha ended without a breakthrough.
International mediators - the US, Egypt and Qatar - issued a joint statement saying the talks “were serious and constructive, and were conducted in a positive atmosphere”.
However, sources within Hamas told Middle East Eye that leaks on international media “portraying the talks as positive are unfounded and misleading”.
One source said: “The Israeli delegation’s primary efforts were to add Netanyahu’s conditions to be part of Biden’s proposal."
“Hamas categorically rejects Netanyahu’s conditions.”
The source accused Israel of using the talks to buy time, “hoping to contain the regional escalation following the assassination of [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniyeh”.
Polio epidemic
Meanwhile, the Palestinian health ministry announced on Friday that the first case of polio has been recorded in Gaza.
The discovery comes shortly after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for humanitarian pauses to conduct a polio vaccination campaign.
"Let’s be clear: the ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire," Guterres said.
"But in any case, a polio pause is a must. It is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over."
Guterres called for seven-day pauses to facilitate the vaccination of 650,000 Palestinian children.
The Palestinian health ministry detected polio in sewage water in June and declared a polio epidemic last month.
Poliovirus is a highly infectious disease that primarily affects children under the age of five, can cause paralysis and is potentially fatal.
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