At least 5 dead after Israeli strikes on Syria, Gaza conflict rages

Multiple Israeli strikes on Syria's Hama countryside late on Sunday killed at least five civilians, according to Syria's state news agency SANA. Sources indicated that the attacks targeted a major military research center.

A local health official quoted by SANA reported that 19 people were injured, several critically, following the strikes near the city of Misyaf. Ambulances were still ferrying the wounded.

Two regional intelligence sources stated that a major military research center for chemical arms production near Misyaf was hit multiple times and is believed to house Iranian military experts involved in weapons production.

On the same day, Hezbollah targeted several military sites in northern Israel and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, prompting the Israeli army to respond with airstrikes that injured three civilians, according to official and military sources in Lebanon.

Since the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, Israel has intensified its strikes on Iranian-backed militia targets in Syria, and tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border have also escalated.

Israeli strikes continue in besieged Gaza. On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike on a house in Jabalia killed Mohammad Morsi, deputy director of the Gaza Civil Emergency Service in the northern Gaza Strip, along with four members of his family, according to health officials.

The United Nations, in collaboration with local health authorities, has extended by one day the campaign to vaccinate children in the southern Gaza Strip against polio before moving to the north on Monday. The campaign aims to vaccinate 640,000 children in Gaza. Limited pauses in the fighting have allowed the campaign to proceed.

UN officials reported progress, having reached more than half of the targeted children in the southern and central Gaza Strip during the first two stages. A second round of vaccination will be required four weeks after the first.

Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas continue to blame each other for the failure of mediators – including Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. – to broker a ceasefire. The U.S. is preparing to present a new proposal, but the prospects for a breakthrough appear dim as significant gaps remain between the sides' positions.

The ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of more than 40,900 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It has also displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, leading to a hunger crisis and genocide allegations at the World Court, which Israel denies.

(With input from Xinhua, Reuters)