Sweden, Norway Pledge Humanitarian Aid for Gaza

Children play in a charred car as people queue for bread in front of a bakery that was partially destroyed in an Israeli strike, in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on November 2, 2023, as battles continue between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)
Children play in a charred car as people queue for bread in front of a bakery that was partially destroyed in an Israeli strike, in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on November 2, 2023, as battles continue between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)
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Sweden, Norway Pledge Humanitarian Aid for Gaza

Children play in a charred car as people queue for bread in front of a bakery that was partially destroyed in an Israeli strike, in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on November 2, 2023, as battles continue between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)
Children play in a charred car as people queue for bread in front of a bakery that was partially destroyed in an Israeli strike, in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on November 2, 2023, as battles continue between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)

Sweden announced Thursday it will donate an extra 150 million kronor ($13.4 million) in humanitarian support for Gaza in addition to the 560 million kroner ($50 million) in aid to Palestinians it has already earmarked for the whole of 2023.

“It’s about the most basic things for people to get through the day,” International Development Cooperation Minister Johan Forssell said. The aid will mostly be channeled through various UN organizations, he said.

In neighboring Norway, the government said Thursday it is increasing support for Palestinian children in Gaza via the UN Children’s Fund by donating 25 million kroner ($2 million).

International Development Minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim said “the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza is absolutely terrible and it is devastating to see how children are affected.”



Israeli Strike in Syria Kills 5 Soldiers

People fleeing from Lebanon arrive on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon in Jdeidat Yabus in southwestern Syria on September 25, 2024. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
People fleeing from Lebanon arrive on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon in Jdeidat Yabus in southwestern Syria on September 25, 2024. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
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Israeli Strike in Syria Kills 5 Soldiers

People fleeing from Lebanon arrive on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon in Jdeidat Yabus in southwestern Syria on September 25, 2024. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
People fleeing from Lebanon arrive on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon in Jdeidat Yabus in southwestern Syria on September 25, 2024. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)

An overnight Israeli airstrike on a military site in the area of Kfar Yabous in Syria near the border with Lebanon killed five Syrian army soldiers and injured another, Syrian state news agency SANA reported Friday, citing an unnamed military official.

Israel's military did not immediately acknowledge the strike. Israel regularly targets military sites in Syria and facilities linked to Iran and the Lebanon’s Hezbollah but rarely acknowledges them.

Those strikes have become more frequent as Hezbollah has exchanged fire with Israeli forces for the past 11 months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese and Syrians have fled across the border from Lebanon into Syria since the beginning of the week amid intense Israeli bombardment that Israel says is targeting Hezbollah fighters and weapons. The strikes have killed an estimated 700 people to date, including at least 150 women and children.