Israeli Strikes Kill 2 ‘Hamas’ Members

A member of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas surveys a Hamas site after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip August 22, 2016. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
A member of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas surveys a Hamas site after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip August 22, 2016. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
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Israeli Strikes Kill 2 ‘Hamas’ Members

A member of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas surveys a Hamas site after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip August 22, 2016. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
A member of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas surveys a Hamas site after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip August 22, 2016. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Israeli airstrikes on a base in Nusseirat in the central Gaza Strip early Saturday killed two “Hamas” members following a rocket attack on Israel.

The strike, one of several in the early hours, came amid protests across the Palestinian territories against US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The Israeli military said it targeted four “Hamas” facilities in response to rockets fired the previous day, including one that landed in the town of Sderot without causing casualties or major damage. The military said it struck military warehouses and weapons manufacturing sites, after which “Hamas” said it recovered the bodies of two of its men.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza named the men as Mahmud al-Atal, 28 and Mohammed al-Safdi, 30.

The flare-up followed clashes Friday between Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops in dozens of West Bank hotspots and along the Gaza border. Two Palestinians were shot dead in Gaza and dozens were wounded in the West Bank.



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.