UN: Warring Sides Should Stop Targeting Civilians in Damascus, Eastern Ghouta

File photo: A Syrian child looks out onto a damaged building following an air strike on the rebel-held town of Arbin in eastern Ghouta. AFP
File photo: A Syrian child looks out onto a damaged building following an air strike on the rebel-held town of Arbin in eastern Ghouta. AFP
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UN: Warring Sides Should Stop Targeting Civilians in Damascus, Eastern Ghouta

File photo: A Syrian child looks out onto a damaged building following an air strike on the rebel-held town of Arbin in eastern Ghouta. AFP
File photo: A Syrian child looks out onto a damaged building following an air strike on the rebel-held town of Arbin in eastern Ghouta. AFP

The United Nations on Sunday called on Syria's warring sides to stop targeting civilians in the capital Damascus and nearby neighborhoods, mainly Eastern Ghouta, where escalating bombardment has killed dozens in recent days.

UN coordinator for humanitarian and development affairs in Syria Ali al-Zaatari called on "all warring sides to avoid targeting civilians.”

"For days, there have been daily reports about civilians being killed and others being severely wounded, in addition to warehouses, hospitals and schools being put out of service during the exchange of shellfire, particularly in Damascus and Eastern Ghouta," Zaatari said.

His comments in Arabic came in a statement emailed to AFP.

Regime forces have escalated their bombardment of Eastern Ghouta, an opposition stronghold outside Damascus, since Ahrar al-Sham attacked a military base in the area last week.

Since Tuesday, heavy artillery fire and air strikes on Eastern Ghouta have killed at least 66 civilians including 13 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

At least 281 people have been wounded, the Britain-based monitor said on Sunday.

Rebel groups meanwhile have fired rockets into Damascus neighborhoods, killing at least 16 people since Thursday, the Observatory said.

The toll included two people killed by rocket fire on Sunday.

"The United Nations hopes for an immediate ceasefire and the establishment of secure humanitarian corridors to evacuate wounded, sick, and elderly people, as well as children, as soon as possible from areas seeing hostile operations," Zaatari said.

He called for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those who need it across the country.

Eastern Ghouta is supposed to be part of a "de-escalation zone" under a deal between Russia, Iran and Turkey aimed at reducing the level of violence.

Bashar al-Assad's forces have besieged Eastern Ghouta since 2013, making humanitarian conditions in the area, where some 400,000 people live, extremely dire.



52 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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52 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including four children, hospital officials said Saturday. Also, 24 others were fatally shot on their way to aid distribution sites.

The children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr's Hospital said. Another four people were killed in strikes near a fuel station, and 15 others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in the Gaza Strip, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas infrastructure sites. The military did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment on the civilian deaths.

The Hamas-led group killed some 1,200 people in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and abducted 251. They still hold 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

US President Donald Trump has said that he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war. But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there were no signs of a breakthrough.