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Syria Says Seven Civilians Killed in Israeli Strike Near Damascus

Syrian emergency and security services inspect the wreckage of a car that exploded in the Syrian capital Damascus on October 21, 2024. (AFP)
Syrian emergency and security services inspect the wreckage of a car that exploded in the Syrian capital Damascus on October 21, 2024. (AFP)
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Syria Says Seven Civilians Killed in Israeli Strike Near Damascus

Syrian emergency and security services inspect the wreckage of a car that exploded in the Syrian capital Damascus on October 21, 2024. (AFP)
Syrian emergency and security services inspect the wreckage of a car that exploded in the Syrian capital Damascus on October 21, 2024. (AFP)

An Israeli strike on a residential building in the Sayeda Zainab district south of the Syrian capital Damascus killed seven civilians on Sunday, the Syrian defense ministry said, in the second such attack in less than a week.

The fatalities included women and children, with 20 people also injured, the ministry said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which said last week that its air force had struck intelligence assets of the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in the same area.

Sayeda Zainab, a stronghold of Hezbollah, has been the target in previous strikes. The heavily garrisoned area near the location is also a well-known stronghold of Hezbollah, which is one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chief allies.

Israel has ramped up strikes in Syria since the Oct. 7 attack by armed group Hamas on Israel in 2023 and particularly since the escalation of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

Syrian and Western intelligence sources say Israeli attacks in Syria have killed scores of Hezbollah and pro-Iranian militia fighters based around the eastern outskirts of Damascus and to the south of the city.

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Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)

An Israeli rights group said Monday that more than a quarter of all Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel had contracted scabies since an outbreak was identified in May, and accused the prison authority of improper care and prevention.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said that more than 2,800 prisoners had caught the rash-like infection, with more than 1,700 still actively infected. The outbreak was seen in five different detention facilities, the group said. It was citing figures it said came from the Israel Prison Service.

The group said it filed a legal petition calling on the prison service “to eradicate the scabies epidemic,” accusing the authorities of failing “to implement widely recognized medical interventions necessary to contain the outbreak.”

It said that it halted the legal proceedings after it received a commitment from the prison service to address the outbreak. The prison service said the court had cancelled the petition because the prisons had shown they were dealing with the outbreak in a “systematic and thorough” way.

Nadav Davidovich, an Israeli public health expert who wrote a medical analysis for the group’s court proceedings, said the outbreak was a result of overcrowding in prisons and apparent neglect from prison authorities. He said such outbreaks could be prevented if prisoners were held “in more reasonable conditions.” If the first infections were treated as needed, such an outbreak could have been avoided, he said.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel also said that the Israel Prison Service had cited scabies as a reason for postponing lawyers' visits and court appearances for prisoners. It said those steps “violate prisoners’ rights and serve as punitive measures rather than public health responses.”

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prisons, has boasted about hardening conditions to the bare minimum required by law.