Israel Strikes Hezbollah Target in Lebanon over Aerial Objects

Palestinian flag seem next to the Hezbollah flag in southern Lebanon (AFP)
Palestinian flag seem next to the Hezbollah flag in southern Lebanon (AFP)
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Israel Strikes Hezbollah Target in Lebanon over Aerial Objects

Palestinian flag seem next to the Hezbollah flag in southern Lebanon (AFP)
Palestinian flag seem next to the Hezbollah flag in southern Lebanon (AFP)

Israel's military said early on Saturday it had struck a Hezbollah target in southern Lebanon in response to the "infiltration of unidentified aerial objects into Israel" and fire on an Israeli drone.

The military intercepted the objects and the fire on its drone, it said.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli shelling struck a Lebanese army observation post at the border on Friday, three sources in Lebanon told Reuters, after the Israeli military warned of a suspected armed infiltration that it said it was responding to with artillery fire.
Israel later ruled out that any incursion had occurred and residents of a village near the border, who had been instructed to hole up at home and lock doors and windows, were told they could again go outdoors.
The alert was issued in Hanita, 500 metres (yards) from the tense border and opposite Aalma El-Chaeb.
Lebanon's Hezbollah group later said it had carried out attacks on a number of border areas as a response to attacks Israel carried out earlier in the day on south Lebanese towns.
The military statement said there had been an explosion at the adjacent border fence, which was lightly damaged.
Lebanese state media reported that shells struck near Alma Al-Shaab and Dhayra, the sites of repeated clashes in the past week, the deadliest at the border since Hezbollah and Israel fought a brutal month-long war in 2006.



UNICEF: Gaza Fighting Pauses Agreed to Finish Polio Vaccinations

FILED - 01 September 2024, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: A child is vaccinated against the polio virus at the health center in Deir al-Balah. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
FILED - 01 September 2024, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: A child is vaccinated against the polio virus at the health center in Deir al-Balah. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
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UNICEF: Gaza Fighting Pauses Agreed to Finish Polio Vaccinations

FILED - 01 September 2024, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: A child is vaccinated against the polio virus at the health center in Deir al-Balah. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
FILED - 01 September 2024, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: A child is vaccinated against the polio virus at the health center in Deir al-Balah. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

Humanitarian pauses in the war in the Gaza Strip have been agreed to allow a second round of polio vaccinations targeting 590,000 children under the age of 10 to start on Oct. 14, the head of the UN children's agency UNICEF said on Thursday.
"Area-specific humanitarian pauses have been agreed. It is critical that these pauses are respected by all parties. Without them, it is impossible to vaccinate the children," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.
The first round of the polio vaccination campaign, which began on Sept. 1, reached its target of 90% of children under 10 years of age, the United Nations has said. It was carried out in phases over two weeks during humanitarian pauses in the fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed in August that a baby was partially paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.
"UNICEF will include Vitamin A supplements to strengthen children's immune systems. Children in Gaza live in extremely dire hygiene and sanitation conditions," Reuters quoted Russell as saying.
"With the additional vaccine equipment and cold boxes that arrived yesterday, UNICEF is ready to deliver and vaccinate children to stop the transmission of polio," she said. "The success of the first round shows that when agreements are respected, we can get the job done."