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Libyan Authorities Recover Bodies of Beheaded Copts

Neighbors and friends of relatives of the Egyptian Coptic men killed in Libya sit at the courtyard of the Virgin Mary Church in the village of el-Aour, near Minya, 220 kilometers south of Cairo, Egypt, Feb. 16, 2015. Reuters photo
Neighbors and friends of relatives of the Egyptian Coptic men killed in Libya sit at the courtyard of the Virgin Mary Church in the village of el-Aour, near Minya, 220 kilometers south of Cairo, Egypt, Feb. 16, 2015. Reuters photo
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Libyan Authorities Recover Bodies of Beheaded Copts

Neighbors and friends of relatives of the Egyptian Coptic men killed in Libya sit at the courtyard of the Virgin Mary Church in the village of el-Aour, near Minya, 220 kilometers south of Cairo, Egypt, Feb. 16, 2015. Reuters photo
Neighbors and friends of relatives of the Egyptian Coptic men killed in Libya sit at the courtyard of the Virgin Mary Church in the village of el-Aour, near Minya, 220 kilometers south of Cairo, Egypt, Feb. 16, 2015. Reuters photo

Libyan authorities have recovered the bodies of 21 Coptic Christian workers, mostly Egyptians, beheaded in 2015 by ISIS in the coastal city of Sirte.

Sadiq Al-Sour, head of investigations for the Attorney General’s office, said last week that Libyan authorities had arrested a senior ISIS commander who supervised the beheadings.

“He gave details on the incident and indicated their place of burial,” Sour said.

“We are seeking with military authorities in the central region to discover where the bodies are, and hopefully we will find them, despite the time that has passed,” he added.

The beheaded bodies in orange uniforms were reportedly found with their hands cuffed to the backs. They included 20 Egyptians and one African.

The killings were documented in a grisly video released online by the terrorist organization that shocked Egypt and led it to launch punitive airstrikes.

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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.