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First Case of Polio Confirmed in a 10-month-old Child in Gaza

FILE - Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk next a dark streak of sewage flowing into the streets of the southern town of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 4, 2024. Health authorities and aid agencies are racing to avert an outbreak of polio in the Gaza Strip after the virus was detected in the territory's wastewater and three cases with a suspected polio symptom have been reported. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
FILE - Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk next a dark streak of sewage flowing into the streets of the southern town of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 4, 2024. Health authorities and aid agencies are racing to avert an outbreak of polio in the Gaza Strip after the virus was detected in the territory's wastewater and three cases with a suspected polio symptom have been reported. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
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First Case of Polio Confirmed in a 10-month-old Child in Gaza

FILE - Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk next a dark streak of sewage flowing into the streets of the southern town of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 4, 2024. Health authorities and aid agencies are racing to avert an outbreak of polio in the Gaza Strip after the virus was detected in the territory's wastewater and three cases with a suspected polio symptom have been reported. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
FILE - Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk next a dark streak of sewage flowing into the streets of the southern town of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 4, 2024. Health authorities and aid agencies are racing to avert an outbreak of polio in the Gaza Strip after the virus was detected in the territory's wastewater and three cases with a suspected polio symptom have been reported. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)

Palestinian health officials on Friday reported the first case of polio in an unvaccinated 10-month-old child in the Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, the first case in years in the coastal enclave that has been engulfed in the Israel-Hamas war since Oct. 7, The Associated Press reported.

After discovering the child's symptoms, tests were conducted in Jordan’s capital of Amman and the case was confirmed to be polio, the health officials said.

The potentially fatal, paralyzing disease mostly strikes children under the age of 5 and typically spreads through contaminated water. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where the spread of polio has never been stopped.

The World Health Organization did not immediately respond to requests to confirm the case. However, UN health and children’s agencies have called for seven-day pauses in the fighting, starting at the end of August, to vaccinate 640,000 Palestinian children against polio.

They said the polio virus had been discovered in wastewater in two major cities last month in Gaza, which has been polio-free for the last 25 years, according to the United Nations.

The humanitarian community has warned of the re-emergence of polio since the latest war erupted when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Israel’s devastating retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza in the 10-month-long conflict and created a dire humanitarian situation, which health officials say has created a public health emergency.

In July, WHO said a variant of type 2 was discovered in wastewater samples from southern Khan Younis and central Deir al-Balah, linked to a variant of the polio virus last detected in Egypt last year.

While WHO did not confirm the polio case, it said earlier on Friday that three children in Gaza were found with acute flaccid paralysis — the onset of weakness or paralysis with reduced muscle tone, a common symptom of polio.

The children's stool samples have been sent for testing to the Jordan National Polio Laboratory, the agency said.

More than 1.6 million doses of the polio vaccine are expected to arrive in Gaza by the end of August, WHO said, in time for the vaccination campaigns which would have to be conducted in two rounds. Children under 10 will be given two drops of the oral vaccine against type 2 of the polio virus.

Health officials in Gaza warned they would not be able to stop the spread of polio and treat people without an urgent ceasefire in place. The stark warning came as international mediators expressed hope that a ceasefire deal is within reach.

Two days of talks had wrapped up in Qatar on Friday, the mediators said, adding that they plan to reconvene in Cairo next week to seal an agreement to stop the fighting.

The mediators have spent months trying to hammer out a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

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Key Players in Syria’s Long-Running Civil War, Reignited by Shock Opposition Offensive

A Syrian flag lies on the ground as opposition fighters stand on the tarmac of the Aleppo international airport, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024.(AP)
A Syrian flag lies on the ground as opposition fighters stand on the tarmac of the Aleppo international airport, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024.(AP)
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Key Players in Syria’s Long-Running Civil War, Reignited by Shock Opposition Offensive

A Syrian flag lies on the ground as opposition fighters stand on the tarmac of the Aleppo international airport, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024.(AP)
A Syrian flag lies on the ground as opposition fighters stand on the tarmac of the Aleppo international airport, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024.(AP)

Syria’s long civil war has reclaimed global attention after opposition factions seized most of its largest city and dozens of nearby towns and villages.

The stunning advance on Aleppo by opposition forces came as several key players in the conflict have been distracted or weakened, triggering the heaviest clashes since a 2020 ceasefire brought relative calm to the country’s north.

Russian and Syrian forces have carried out dozens of airstrikes to try to limit the factions’ advances, inflicting heavy casualties.

Syria's civil war started in 2011 after a peaceful uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule. Five foreign powers have a military presence in the country including the US, Russia and Iran. Forces opposed to Assad, along with US-backed fighters, control more than a third of the country. Israel holds the Golan Heights, which it seized in its 1967 war with its Arab neighbors.

Here’s a look at the key players:

Syrian pro-government forces, backed by Russia and Iran

Syrian government troops have long controlled a large part of the country, thanks to allied forces dispatched by Russia and Iran.

Assad's forces control most of the major population centers, including the capital Damascus and cities in Syria's center, south and east.

The Syrian government's capture of Aleppo in late 2016 was a turning point in the conflict and their loss of the city in recent days is a major setback.

Iran's military advisers and proxy fighters have played a critical role in shoring up Assad's forces throughout the war. But Lebanon's Hezbollah group, which is backed by Iran, has been weakened in its recent war with Israel and Iran has been distracted by the conflict. On Monday, Iranian-backed Iraqi militias deployed to Syria to back the government’s counteroffensive.

Russia's military has supported Assad from the Mediterranean coast, where it maintains its only naval base outside the former Soviet Union, and at the Hmeimim air base in Latakia province, which is home to hundreds of Russian troops. But much of its attention and resources have been focused on its war in Ukraine.

Opposition groups, backed mainly by Türkiye

Anti-government forces are led by the opposition Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which long served as al-Qaeda's branch in Syria and is considered a terrorist group by the UN as well as countries including the US.

HTS controls much of northwest Syria and in 2017 set up a “salvation government” to run day-to-day affairs in the region. In recent years, its leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group's image, cutting ties with al-Qaeda, ditching hard-line officials and vowing to embrace pluralism and religious tolerance.

Other opposition groups include Noureddine el-Zinki, which was formerly backed by the US, before it joined the HTS-led alliance.

A Turkish-backed coalition of groups known as the Syrian National Army has attacked areas including the northern town of Tel Rifaat, controlled by the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Chinese fighters from the Turkistan Islamic Party and Chechen fighters from the former Soviet Union have taken part in the battles in the country's northwest, according to Syrian opposition activists. Türkiye, which controls parts of northern Syria, will not say how many troops it has in the country.

Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the US

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed coalition of groups, controls large parts of eastern Syria.

The SDF has battled the ISIS group, capturing the last sliver of land held by the extremists in eastern Syria. About 900 American troops are stationed in Syria’s east to guard against a resurgence by the extremist group.

SDF forces still control several neighborhoods of Aleppo encircled by the opposition groups. Opposition activists have said their forces are willing to let those fighters cross to northeast Syria but it was not immediately clear if the Kurdish-led forces will do so.

Türkiye considers the principal Kurdish faction of the SDF to be linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which it and allies regard as a terrorist group.