Gaza hospitals say large-scale campaign to vaccinate against polio has begun in the war-ravaged territory

Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza hospitals say large-scale campaign to vaccinate against polio has begun in the war-ravaged territory.

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  • Netanyahu warns Yemen’s Houthis face a ‘heavy price’ as missile lands in central Israel

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  • Hamas chief says ready for 'long war' in Gaza

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  • Houthi missile reaches central Israel for the first time

    STORY: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would inflict a "heavy price" on the Iran-aligned Houthis after they reached central Israel with a missile on Sunday for the first time. Smoke billowed and a fire was seen in this open field near Kfar Daniel. Air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel just after 6:30 a.m. local time, sending residents running for shelter. No injuries were reported.:: Israeli Police handoutAfter initially saying the missile had fallen in an open area, Israel's military later said it had probably fragmented in the air, and that pieces of interceptors had landed in the fields and near a railway station. :: GPOAt a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the Houthis should have known that Israel would exact a "heavy price" for any attack on the country.:: July 20, 2024"Whoever needs a reminder of that is invited to visit the Hodeidah port," Netanyahu said, referring to a deadly Israeli air strike against Yemen in July in retaliation for a Houthi drone that hit Tel Aviv.:: Houthi Military MediaHouthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group struck with a new hypersonic ballistic missile on Sunday that traveled nearly 1,300 miles in just 11-and-a-half minutes.:: October 7, 2023:: April 2024Sarea said Israel should expect more strikes in the future "as we approach the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 operation", referring to when Hamas militants launched a bloody attack in southern Israel that triggered the latest conflict in Gaza.:: Houthi Military MediaSince the Gaza war began, the Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Israel repeatedly in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians.But previous Houthi missiles have not penetrated as deep into Israeli air space as this time.

  • US airs frustration with Israel's military about strikes in Gaza

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  • Houthi missile hits open area in central Israel

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  • Mother in Gaza longs for triplets in Jerusalem hospital

    STORY: These triplets in Jerusalem are video calling with their mother, who is in Gaza.It’s the only way they can see each other.They haven’t been physically together since shortly after the girls’ birth in August 2023... when their mother, 26-year-old Hanan al-Bayouk, traveled from Gaza to Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem for a high-risk birth. Her triplets – Najwa, Nour and Najmah – were born prematurely and underweight, and had to stay in intensive care.Israel's restrictions on the movement of Palestinians meant al-Bayouk – in fear of falling foul of the law – returned to Gaza while her babies were still in intensive care.By the time they were ready to go home, war had broken out and she got stuck. Doctors and nurses call al-Bayouk via WhatsApp, but at times she is unable to get internet in Gaza.When they do get a hold of her, they repeat “Mama, mama” to encourage the girls to focus on her small image on the phone.Where al-Bayouk's triplets are being cared for is worlds away from conditions for children in Gaza, which has been blockaded and pounded by Israeli forces since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.The director of the neonatal intensive care department at Al-Makassed Hospital, Hatem Khammash, says the babies are doing well. “We are happy with their development, the only thing that makes us sad is that they are far away from their mother,” he says.

  • Army says missile from Yemen fell in central Israel

    A Yemeni rebel missile fired from Yemen triggered a rush to shelters in central Israel on Sunday, causing no injuries but again adding to regional tensions nearly a year into the Gaza war.After the incident, AFP photographers saw firefighters putting out a brush fire near Lod and saw broken glass at a train station in Modin, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub.Yemen's Huthi rebels, who claimed the attack, are among Iran-backed groups in the Middle East that have been drawn into the conflict after Hamas Palestinian militants' October attack against Israel triggered war in Gaza.The rebels targeted an Israeli "military position" in the Jaffa area, around Tel Aviv, using a "ballistic missile that succeeded in reaching its target", Huthi spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement, adding that "the enemy's defences failed to intercept it".In July, the Huthis claimed a drone strike that penetrated Israel's air defences and killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, at least 1,800 kilometres from Yemen.Israel's military said "a surface-to-surface missile was identified crossing into central Israel from the East and fell in an open area. No injuries were reported.""The missile was fired from Yemen," it added later. Sirens sounded prior to the missile, the military said, leading to what local media described as a scramble for shelters in the greater Tel Aviv area.A paramedic service said several people were slightly injured while "on their way to shelters."Israeli police said they were at the scene near Shfela, east of Tel Aviv, where a fragment of an air-defence interceptor had come down, adding there were no casualties.Yemen's Huthis have been launching attacks against Israel and its perceived interests in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The rebels are part of the "axis of resistance", which also includes Tehran-aligned militant groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.- Deadly shipping attacks -Since November, the Huthis have carried out dozens of missile and drone strikes on shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, waterways vital to global trade.Several Filipino sailors have been killed in the strikes which have led to American military retaliation against Huthi targets.Huthi missiles last month hit a Greek-flagged tanker carrying more than a million barrels of crude, leaving it ablaze off the coast of the Yemeni port of Hodeida and threatening environmental disaster. A Greek defence ministry source on Saturday told AFP that the Sounion vessel was being towed northward under military escort in a salvage operation.After the Huthis' July attack on Tel Aviv, Israeli warplanes bombed Huthi-controlled Hodeida, destroying much of the facility's fuel storage capacity and killing several people, according to the rebels.It was Israel's first claimed strike in Yemen.A rebel official at the time vowed escalation, and a Huthi statement last month affirmed "once again that the Yemeni response is definitely coming".On Israel's northern flank, Lebanon's Hezbollah movement has traded regular cross-border fire with Israeli forces in exchanges that threaten to spiral into all-out war.On Sunday morning about 40 projectiles were fired from Lebanon toward Israel's Upper Galilee region and the annexed Golan Heights, Israel's military said.- Israelis protest -Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said in a speech on Saturday that his group has "no intention of going to war" but if Israel does "unleash" one "there will be large losses on both sides" and "hundreds of thousands more displaced".He spoke after Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel was determined to restore security to its northern front.The cross-border violence since early October has killed more than 600 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters, and around 50 on the Israeli side, roughly split between soldiers and civilians.Hezbollah has said it is acting in support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.The Hamas attack which began Gaza's war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 41,206 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not provide breakdowns of civilian and militant deaths. Gaza's civil defence agency on Sunday reported at least three people killed in central Gaza and another around Gaza City when Israeli air strikes hit.Months of effort by Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators have failed to secure a truce and hostage release deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is facing rising anger from critics who accuse him of not doing enough to get the captives home.On Saturday thousands of people once more took to the streets of Israel's main cities to push the government for a deal.bur-smw-it/jsa

  • Fire breaks out after first Yemeni missile to reach central Israel

    STORY: :: September 15, 2024:: A fire breaks out in central Israel after Israeli forcesfail to intercept a missile launched from Yemen:: Near Kfar Daniel, Israel:: The Israeli military said no one was injured in what is the first Houthi missile to reach central IsraelAir raid sirens had sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel moments before the missile landed at around 6:35 a.m. local time (0335 GMT), sending residents running for shelter. The deputy head of the Houthi's media office, Nasruddin Amer, said in a post on X on Sunday that a Yemeni missile had reached Israel after "20 missiles failed to intercept" it, describing it as the "beginning."Residents and fire fighters struggled to contain the flames near the central Israeli community of Kfar Daniel. It not immediately possible to determine if the fire was caused by the missile or interceptor debris.

  • Missile fired from Yemen lands in open area in central Israel and sets off air raid sirens

    A long-range missile fired from Yemen landed in an open area in central Israel early Sunday, the Israeli military said, in the latest reverberation from the nearly yearlong war in Gaza.