Israel Demolishes Home of Palestinian Behind Tel Aviv Attack that Killed 1

Palestinians check a house damaged during an Israeli raid, in Balata camp, Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 22, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinians check a house damaged during an Israeli raid, in Balata camp, Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 22, 2023. (Reuters)
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Israel Demolishes Home of Palestinian Behind Tel Aviv Attack that Killed 1

Palestinians check a house damaged during an Israeli raid, in Balata camp, Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 22, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinians check a house damaged during an Israeli raid, in Balata camp, Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 22, 2023. (Reuters)

The Israeli army said on Tuesday it demolished the home of a Palestinian involved in an attack in Tel Aviv that killed one and wounded two others last March.

Video footage of the attack shows a man the army says was Moataz Khawaja, 23, shooting three men from behind, including one in the head — in one of Tel Aviv's busiest streets — before being shot and killed by Israeli police. Hamas claimed him as a member of its armed wing.

On Tuesday, the army destroyed Khawaja's home in the town of Naalin, northwest of Ramallah. The army said people burned tires, threw stones and shot fireworks at Israeli forces who were razing the site.

Israel demolishes the homes of attackers in an attempt to deter others, a tactic critics say amounts to collective punishment.

Khawaja's attack came after months of relentless violence in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has been conducting near-nightly raids in response to Palestinian attacks against Israelis. The demolition follows a deadly five-day burst of fighting between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip.



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.