Israel Says Reviewing Strike that Killed Lebanese Soldier

A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon shows Israeli artillery shelling of the southern Lebanese village of Adaisseh in response to anti-tank fire from Lebanon into northern Israel on December 3, 2023. (Photo by jalaa marey / AFP)
A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon shows Israeli artillery shelling of the southern Lebanese village of Adaisseh in response to anti-tank fire from Lebanon into northern Israel on December 3, 2023. (Photo by jalaa marey / AFP)
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Israel Says Reviewing Strike that Killed Lebanese Soldier

A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon shows Israeli artillery shelling of the southern Lebanese village of Adaisseh in response to anti-tank fire from Lebanon into northern Israel on December 3, 2023. (Photo by jalaa marey / AFP)
A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon shows Israeli artillery shelling of the southern Lebanese village of Adaisseh in response to anti-tank fire from Lebanon into northern Israel on December 3, 2023. (Photo by jalaa marey / AFP)

The Israeli army said on Wednesday it was reviewing a strike that “harmed” troops in south Lebanon, an apparent reference to Israeli shelling that killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded three others the previous day.
The Lebanese troops “were not the target of the strike,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

It expressed “regret over the incident,” saying “the incident is under review.”

Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border since the start of the war between the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel on Oct. 7.
The Lebanese army said the soldier, a sergeant, was killed when an army position was shelled by Israel on Tuesday.
The Israeli army said its soldiers had acted in "self defense to eliminate an imminent threat that had been identified from Lebanon" from a "known launch area and observation point" used by Hezbollah.
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon UNIFIL noted in a statement on Tuesday it was the first Lebanese army soldier killed during the hostilities, and that the Lebanese army had not engaged in conflict with Israel.

Hezbollah said in a statement that it had fired guided missiles at a group of Israeli soldiers in Manara in northern Israel in retaliation for the killing.



Gaza: Polio Vaccine Campaign Kicks off a day Before Expected Pause in Fighting

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Gaza: Polio Vaccine Campaign Kicks off a day Before Expected Pause in Fighting

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus began on Saturday, Gaza's Health Ministry said, as Palestinians in both the Hamas-governed enclave and the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel's ongoing military offensives.

Children in Gaza began receiving vaccines, the health ministry told a news conference, a day before the large-scale vaccine rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the UN World Health Organization. The WHO confirmed the larger campaign would begin Sunday.

“There must be a ceasefire so that the teams can reach everyone targeted by this campaign,” said Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, deputy health minister, describing scenes of sewage running through crowded tent camps in Gaza.

Associated Press journalists saw about 10 infants receiving vaccine doses at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

Israel is expected to pause some operations in Gaza on Sunday to allow health workers to administer vaccines to some 650,000 Palestinian children. Officials said the pause would last at least nine hours and is unrelated to ongoing cease-fire negotiations.

“We will vaccinate up to 10-year-olds and God willing we will be fine,” said Dr. Bassam Abu Ahmed, general coordinator of public health programs at Al-Quds University.

The vaccination campaign comes after the first polio case in 25 years in Gaza was discovered this month. Doctors concluded a 10-month-old had been partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus after not being vaccinated due to fighting.

Healthcare workers in Gaza have been warning of the potential for a polio outbreak for months. The humanitarian crisis has deepened during the war that broke out after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were militants.

Hours earlier, the Health Ministry said hospitals received 89 dead on Saturday, including 26 who died in an overnight Israeli bombardment, and 205 wounded — one of the highest daily tallies in months.