An Israeli strike from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights targeted civilian sites south of the Syrian capital Damascus, causing some damage, said Syria’s defence ministry on Monday.
Israel has officially notified the United Nations that it was cancelling the agreement that regulated its relations with the UN relief organisation for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) since 1967, the Israeli foreign ministry said on Monday.
Jewish settlers torched 20 cars during an attack on Palestinian property on the outskirts of Ramallah on Monday, residents said, in one of their boldest raids yet in the area that serves as the Palestinians’ seat of government in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli strike hits civilian sites near Damascus
An Israeli strike from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights targeted civilian sites south of the Syrian capital Damascus, causing some damage, said Syria’s defence ministry on Monday.
Earlier, Syrian state media Sana said that initial reports indicated the strike hit the Sayeda Zeinab area. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Israeli military did not comment on the strike.
Sayeda Zeinab, a stronghold of the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and the site of a major Shi’ite shrine, has been targeted in previous strikes.
Syrian and Western intelligence sources say Israeli attacks in Syria have killed numerous Hezbollah and pro-Iranian militia fighters based around the eastern outskirts of Damascus and to the south of the city.
The sources say the neighbourhood remains a target due to the presence of high-ranking militia leaders.
Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years. It has ramped up strikes since the 7 October 2023 attack by the militant group Hamas on Israel and particularly since the recent escalation of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Israel notifies UN of end to ties with Palestinian relief agency
Israel has officially notified the United Nations that it was cancelling the agreement that regulated its relations with the UN relief organisation for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) since 1967, the Israeli foreign ministry said on Monday.
Israel’s parliament last week passed legislation banning Unrwa from operating in Israel and stopping Israeli authorities from cooperating with the organisation, which has said the ban will deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza.
Since the start of the Gaza war, Israel has said that Unrwa has been infiltrated by Hamas in Gaza, accusing some of its staff of taking part in the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
Following an investigation by the UN oversight office, the UN said in August that nine Unrwa staff may have been involved in the 7 October attack, and had been fired. Later, a Hamas commander in Lebanon — killed last month in an Israeli strike — was found to have had an Unrwa job.
Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, said in a statement that despite the overwhelming evidence “we submitted to the UN highlighting how Hamas infiltrated Unrwa, the UN did nothing to address this reality”.
The legislation, which does not take effect for another three months, has prompted international concern, with the U.N. Security Council warning against attempts to dismantle Unrwa.
Unrwa director of communications Juliette Touma said the Israeli law had so far had no impact on Unrwa assistance in Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem. She said the onus was on UN member states to find a way to get Israel not to implement the law, calling it “a race against time”.
The law does not directly outlaw Unrwa’s operations in the West Bank and Gaza, both considered by international law to be outside the state of Israel but under Israeli occupation. But it will severely impact its ability to work in those areas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for Unrwa to be shut down, saying it seeks to perpetuate the issue of Palestinian refugees.
The agency was established in 1949 following the war surrounding the founding of Israel, when 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes.
It provides aid, health and education to 5.9 million descendants of those refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and neighbouring Arab countries.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz ordered his ministry to notify the United Nations of the cancellation of the agreement, said the foreign ministry.
Katz said the UN “was presented with countless pieces of evidence that Hamas operatives are employed by Unrwa and about the use of Unrwa facilities for terrorist purposes yet nothing was done about this”.
Asked for comment, Touma said that in addition to the UN oversight office’s investigation, Unrwa received one formal accusation directly from Israeli authorities, alleging 100 of its staff were members of Palestinian armed groups.
Unrwa sought information and cooperation from Israel about the allegations and had not received a response, she said.
The Israeli military had also made accusations in the media alleging the use of Unrwa facilities by armed groups. Unrwa had repeatedly condemned the alleged use of its facilities by groups including Hamas and other parties to the conflict and called for accountability, she said.
Israeli settlers torch cars on Ramallah outskirts
Jewish settlers torched 20 cars during an attack on Palestinian property on the outskirts of Ramallah on Monday, residents said, in one of their boldest raids yet in the area that serves as the Palestinians’ seat of government in the occupied West Bank.
About a dozen attackers, masked and carrying petrol bombs, targeted the Al-Bireh area, which adjoins Ramallah, at around 3am, torching the cars in a matter of minutes, they said.
Resident Ihab al-Zaben said he yelled at the settlers but they carried on burning the vehicles regardless.
“When we came down to try to extinguish the fire, they started shooting at us,” he said.
The facade of a residential building was left blackened by fires set in cars that had been parked outside.
The Israeli police and the Shin Bet security agency were investigating after receiving a report that Palestinian cars had been burned, said the Israeli police spokesperson.
Jewish settler violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank has drawn condemnation internationally and led to sanctions on violent settlers by some governments, notably the US, which has urged Israel to do more to stop the attacks.
The Palestinian Authority, based in Ramallah, condemned “the brutal attack by settler militias”. Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for “comprehensive sanctions targeting the entire settler-colonial system”.
Israel has settled the West Bank since capturing it during the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians say the settlements have undermined the prospects for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Israel views the West Bank as the biblical Judea and Samaria, and the settlers cite biblical ties to the land.
Settler violence had been on the rise before the eruption of the Gaza war and has worsened since the conflict began just over a year ago.
Israeli strikes kill 12 people in Gaza
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in Gaza on Monday and residents said they feared new air and ground attacks and forced evacuations were aimed at emptying areas in the enclave’s north to create buffer zones against Hamas militants.
Unrwa said Israel was scaling back the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza, compounding shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies.
In the latest bloodshed, medics said seven people were killed in an attack on two houses in the north Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Monday. Five more were killed in separate strikes in central and southern parts of the enclave, medics told Reuters.
Several people were wounded in the attacks, they said, adding that Israeli forces had sent tanks into the northeast of Nuseirat camp earlier on Monday.
Israel deployed tanks into Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahiya on 5 October, saying it intended to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces were continuing to bomb the Kamal Adwan Hospital and had injured many staff and patients.
“The medical staff cannot move between the hospital departments and cannot rescue their injured colleagues. It seems that a decision has been made to execute all the staff who refused to evacuate the hospital,” it said.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on that situation.
Palestinians said the new offensives and orders for people to leave were “ethnic cleansing” aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones. Israel denies this, saying it is fighting Hamas militants who launch attacks from there.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number of Palestinians killed since 5 October at 1,800. It said 4,000 others were wounded.
There was no confirmation on the figure from the territory’s health ministry and Israel has repeatedly accused the Hamas media office of exaggerating the figures of the dead.
Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia in the past month.
More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, according to Gaza authorities, and much of the territory has been reduced to ruins.
Unrwa head Philippe Lazzarini said on Monday that Israel had scaled back the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip to an average of 30 trucks a day, the lowest in a long time. This represented only 6% of the commercial and humanitarian supplies that used to enter Gaza before the war, he said.
“This cannot meet the needs of 2 million people, many of whom are starving, sick, and in desperate conditions,” said Lazzarini on X.
An Israeli government spokesman said no limit had been imposed on aid entering Gaza, with 47 aid trucks entering northern Gaza on Sunday alone.
Israeli statistics reviewed by Reuters last week showed that aid shipments allowed into Gaza in October remained at their lowest levels since October 2023.
Israeli military denies strike on Gaza vaccination clinic
The Israeli military denied on Monday that it had hit a clinic in the northern Gaza Strip where health workers were carrying out polio vaccinations.
On Saturday, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli fire had hit the Sheikh Radwan clinic as parents brought their children in to be vaccinated. It said four children had been wounded in the explosion, which took place during an agreed humanitarian pause to allow the campaign to go ahead.
The military said it was aware of the reports but said an initial review showed its forces had not carried out any strikes when the incident took place.
“Contrary to the claims, an initial review determined that the IDF [Israel Defense Froces] did not strike in the area at the specified time,” it said in a statement.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the incident had taken place just after a WHO team was at the clinic and that it had endangered a vital health protection campaign. DM
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