Middle East: Gaza polio vaccinations resume amid strikes

Medics and rescuers in Gaza said more than 30 people had died in the territory, following Israeli airstrikes on Sunday.

Nearly half of the deaths took place in northern areas where Israel has waged a monthlong campaign it says is aimed to prevent Hamas regrouping.

Medics said at least 13 Palestinians were killed in Beit Lahiya town and Jabalia, the largest of the enclave's eight official long-standing refugee camps for displaced Palestinians, which are the focus of the Israel's new offensive.

Civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that areas in Gaza were being bombarded without warning.

 "The Israeli occupation has continued around-the-clock bombardment of civilian homes, especially in northern Gaza," Bassal said.

"This shelling has led to the destruction of numerous buildings and infrastructure. ... Over 100,000 residents are in northern Gaza without food, water or medicine," he said.

The Israel Defense Forces military said on Sunday that it carried out a ground raid into Syria, capturing a Syrian citizen it said was involved in spying for Iran. It marked the first time since the war in Gaza began that Israel announced that IDF troops had operated in Syrian territory.

Israel said capturing the spy thwarted a planned attack by what it described as Iranian terror networks.

"His activities included gathering intelligence on IDF troops in the border area for future terror activity of the network," Israel's army said in a statement. 

The IDF said the operation took place "in recent months," adding that the Syrian citizen "was detained and transferred for interrogation in Israel."

Gaza's polio vaccination campaign continued on Sunday, amid reports of an Israeli strike targeting one vaccination tent clinic.

UNICEF and the Israeli military authority COGAT, which is responsible for Palestinian affairs, said on Sunday that more than 58,600 children under the age of 10 had so far been vaccinated against polio since the campaign resumed on Saturday.

But the vaccination drive was marred by ongoing fighting and reports of a strike hitting a tent clinic.

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X on Saturday that his organization had been made aware of the reported attack, in which six people, including children, were reportedly injured.

Palestinian authorities blamed Israeli forces for the attack, but an IDF spokesman on Sunday said Israel's military was not active in the area at the time. 

"The IDF is aware of claims regarding the injury of Palestinian civilians in the Sheikh Radwan vaccination center in the northern Gaza Strip. Contrary to the claims, an initial review determined that the IDF did not strike in the area at the specified time," IDF International Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said in response to Tedros' announcement. 

jcg/msh (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)

Lebanon's Health Ministry said three people were killed in an Israeli strike near the southern city of Sidon. It was part of the latest attacks on southern Lebanon on Sunday.

The nearby Haret Saida was also hit.

"The Israeli enemy's raid on Haret Saida resulted in an initial death toll of three people killed and nine others injured," Lebanon's Health Ministry said.

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported an Israeli strike on the town of Ghaziyeh.

The strikes on southern Lebanon, including that of Haret Saida, were not preceded by an Israeli warning to evacuate.

But Israel's military did issue a warning for eastern Lebanon's Baalbek area, saying it would target Hezbollah-linked facilities. Baalbek is a Hezbollah stronghold that has seen heavy air raids over the past few days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the border with Lebanon on Sunday. During the visit, he stressed that Israel's goal was to keep Hezbollah from rearming itself through the "oxygen lifeline" of Iranian weapons transferred to Lebanon via Syria.

Netanyahu also said Israel would respond "firmly" to Hezbollah's attacks, while saying the militant group must retreat.

"I want to be clear: With or without an agreement, the key to restoring peace and security in the north ... is first and foremost to push Hezbollah back beyond the Litani River, secondly to target any attempt to rearm, and thirdly to respond firmly to any action taken against us," Netanyahu told troops at the border, according to a statement from his office.