Middle East latest: Israeli strike in Gaza kills at least 7 people, including 4 kids

An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in central Gaza killed at least seven Palestinians, including four children, and wounded 16 other people Friday afternoon, health officials said.

Israel faces heavy international criticism over the unprecedented levels of civilian casualties and the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Israel says it only strikes militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.

More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in 14 months of war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’ October 2023 attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people. Negotiators say Israel and Hamas are inching toward a ceasefire deal that would free the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Elsewhere in the region, a U.S. diplomatic delegation was in Damascus holding talks with Syria’s new leadership. It’s the first American delegation to formally visit Syria in more than a decade, and comes less than two weeks after jihadi-led rebels overthrew the government of President Bashar Assad.

Syria is home to diverse sects, and there’s ongoing fear and uncertainty among minority groups, including Christians, regarding their rights and safety under the main rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, once an affiliate of al-Qaida.

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Here’s the latest:

UN Security Council says peacekeeping force should remain on the Israel-Syria border

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution extending the U.N. peacekeeping force on the Israel-Syria border and underscoring that there should be no military activities in the demilitarized buffer zone.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli troops will occupy the buffer zone for the foreseeable future. Israel captured the buffer zone shortly after the collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.

The resolution adopted Friday stressed that both countries are obligated “to scrupulously and fully respect” the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement that ended the 1973 war between Syria and Israel and established the buffer zone. The resolution was co-sponsored by the United States and Russia.

The Security Council extended the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force monitoring the border area, known as UNDOF, until June 30, 2025 and called for a halt to all military actions throughout the country including in UNDOF’s area of operations.

The resolution expresses concern that ongoing military activities in the area of separation have the potential to escalate Israeli-Syrian tensions and jeopardize the 1974 ceasefire. It also expresses alarm that violence in Syria “risks a serious conflagration of the conflict in the region.”

Israeli troops wound a protester in newly captured Syrian territory

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said its soldiers shot and wounded a protester Friday in the Syrian village of Maariyah.

Since the fall of Bashar Assad’s government in Syria, Israel’s military has occupied several locations in the country along the border with Israel.

During a protest Friday by dozens of Syrians against the Israeli presence in Maariyah, soldiers shot at one man who the military said had approached their position, wounding him in the leg.

It said the troops acted “in accordance with standard operating procedures.”

“We emphasize that the IDF is not interfering in events taking place in Syria,” the military said.

Residents in the area previously told The Associated Press that Israeli forces were preventing farmers from reaching their fields.

Israeli leaders say they will remain in the area indefinitely.

US drops $10 million reward for top Syrian rebel leader who ousted Assad

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Friday it has decided not to pursue a $10 million reward it had offered for the capture of Syrian rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, whose group led insurgents that ousted President Bashar Assad earlier this month.

The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaida, and the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first U.S. diplomatic delegation into Syria since Assad’s ouster.

Al-Sharaa’s group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, remains designated a foreign terrorist organization, and Leaf would not say if sanctions stemming from that designation would be eased. However, she told reporters that Sharaa had committed to renouncing terrorism and as a result the U.S. would no longer offer the reward.

Leaf said the U.S. would make policy decisions based on actions and not words.

US hostage envoy meets with Syrian leaders in search for missing journalist Austin Tice

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration’s chief envoy for hostage negotiations joined meetings on Friday in Damascus between U.S. diplomats and Syria’s interim leaders and members of civil society.

The first delegation of U.S. diplomats into Syria since the fall of Bashar Assad’s government was aimed at pushing for an inclusive government and seeking information on the whereabouts of missing American journalist Austin Tice.

Roger Carstens told reporters there was no new information confirming Tice’s fate or whereabouts but vowed that efforts to find him would continue. More U.S. officials are expected to visit Syria in the coming days to pick up the search, he said.

“We’re going to be like bulldogs on this,” Carstens said, adding that the U.S. was focusing on about six prisons where it believed Tice may have been held in the past. In addition to those six sites, Carstens said the U.S. had information about another three prisons where Tice might have been incarcerated. Up to 40 sites may end up being examined for evidence of Tice’s presence, he said.

Israeli strike on a Gaza apartment building kills at least 7 people, including 4 kids

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in central Gaza killed at least seven Palestinians, including four children, and injured 16 other people on Friday afternoon, health officials said.

The strike hit an apartment in the Jaffa residential tower in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp. The dead and wounded were taken to Aqsa and Awda hospitals.

The Israeli military did not immediately offer comment on the strike. Israel says it only strikes militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.

Israel faces heavy international criticism over the unprecedented levels of civilian casualties in Gaza and questions about whether it has done enough to prevent them.

Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque in the West Bank, the latest violent attack on Palestinian villages

MARDA, West Bank — Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque and vandalized property in the northern occupied West Bank on Friday, the head of the Palestinian village council said, as Israeli police pledged to investigate the episode.

The West Bank has seen a surge in violence by Jewish settlers during the war in Gaza, and rights groups say the Israeli army often turns a blind eye.

Nasfat al-Khafash, the head of the council in Marda where the attack occurred, said a group of settlers arrived early in the morning, setting the mosque on fire and scrawling hateful messages on it.

Associated Press video showed spray-painted stars of David and the words in Hebrew, “the mosque will burn, the temple will be built,” an apparent reference to the ultranationalist desire to establish a Third Temple for Jews in Jerusalem at the holiest and most contested site in the Holy Land.

“These slogans reflect their upbringing and hatred towards Palestinians and Arabs,” said al-Khafash, adding that the settlers received “full support” from the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the furthest-right government in Israel’s history.

Israel’s police, military and Shin Bet internal security agency said they were investigating the episode. “We view the incident seriously and will act with determination to bring those responsible to justice,” they said in a statement.

The U.N.’s humanitarian office said settler attacks on Palestinian farmers during this fall’s olive harvest season “at least tripled” in 2024 compared to the each of the last three years.

In the West Bank and east Jerusalem, more than 700,000 Jewish settlers have Israeli citizenship, while the 3 million Palestinians in the territory live under Israeli military law.

US conducts airstrike in Syria against an Islamic State group leader

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military conducted airstrikes in northeastern Syria on Thursday, killing a leader of the Islamic State group and one other militant, U.S. Central Command said.

In a statement on X, CENTCOM said the strike was in an area formerly controlled by the ousted Syrian government. The strike was part of an ongoing effort to prevent IS insurgents from taking advantage of the upheaval in Syria, including any plan to release the more than 8,000 IS prisoners held in detention by Kurdish allies that have partnered with the U.S.

The leader killed was Abu Yousef, also known as Mahmud, CENTCOM said.

Gaza officials say 77 people have died in the past 24 hours

The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said Friday that 77 people have died and 174 others arrived at hospitals during the past 24 hours as a result of the ongoing conflict in the territory.

The latest toll includes five children and 12 others who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Shaaban Rais School sheltering displaced people on Thursday, as well as five people who were killed in Maghazi refugee camp in Deir al-Balah early Thursday.

Officials said some people remained buried under rubble or on roads where ambulance and civil defense crews could not reach them.

The ministry said the latest death toll brings the total of deaths in Gaza to 45,206 since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 and triggered the devastating 14-month war in Gaza. Local health officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but have said more than half of the fatalities are women and children.

Turkey’s president suggests Turkey could intervene in northern Syria

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested that Turkey could intervene in northern Syria to eliminate what he said are threats to its security posed by Syrian Kurdish groups.

His statement to a group of journalists late Thursday comes amid reports of fighting in northern Syria between Turkish-backed Syrian fighters and the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led force, near the border town of Kobani and the Tishrin dam on the Euphrates river.

“We will show that the time has come to neutralize the terrorist organizations present in Syria,” Erdogan said, according to a transcript of his remarks that was made available on Friday. “We will do this to prevent any further threats coming from the south of our borders.”

Turkey considers the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, a terrorist organization because its main component is a group aligned to Turkey’s banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. Earlier this week, the SDF said U.S.-led mediation efforts have failed to reach a permanent truce in Syria’s north.

By securing the border area in Syria, Erdogan said Turkey would prevent the PKK from recruiting militants.

The Turkish leader welcomed the fact that many countries were establishing contact with Syria’s new leaders, saying it was “a sign of trust” in the new administration. He said Turkey would assist the country to establish new “state structures.”

Erdogan said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan would travel to Syria soon. Turkey has long backed the rebels who now control Damascus, and is looking to protect their interests in Syria now that Assad is gone.

US diplomatic delegation is in Damascus to meet with Syria’s new leadership

DAMASCUS — A delegation of U.S. officials headed by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf left the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus on Friday afternoon without making any statement to waiting journalists. A statement was expected later in the afternoon.

Leaf, former special envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein and the Biden administration’s chief envoy for hostage negotiations, Roger Carstens, made the trip for talks with Syria’s interim leaders, the State Department said early Friday.

The first U.S. diplomats to visit Syria since President Bashar Assad’s ouster nearly two weeks ago — and the first to formally visit Syria in more than a decade since the U.S. shuttered its embassy in Damascus in 2012 — also came to seek information on the whereabouts of missing American journalist Austin Tice.

The State Department said in a statement that the team would be “engaging directly with the Syrian people, including members of civil society, activists, members of different communities, and other Syrian voices.” Members of the civil defense group known as the White Helmets were seen leaving the hotel along with the delegation.

Kurdish journalists killed in northern Syria

ANKARA, Turkey — A journalists association says two journalists working for Kurdish media outlets were killed in northern Syria while covering fighting between Turkish-backed Syrian fighters and a Kurdish-led force.

Turkey-based Dicle-Firat Journalists Association said Friday that Nazim Dastan and Cihan Bilgin were killed Thursday after their vehicle was reportedly targeted by a Turkish drone on a road near the Tishrin Dam.

Tishrin Dam, located some 90 kilometers (55 miles) east of Aleppo, has been the scene of clashes between the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces and the Turkey-backed fighters .

There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials.

Bianet, a news website dedicated to human rights issues, said Bilgin was a reporter for the Kurdish Hawar News Agency, while Dastan worked as a freelance journalist for the Firat News Agency, which the news site said is associated with the Turkish militant group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Turkey considers the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to also be a terrorist organization because its main component is a group aligned to the PKK. The group has been engaged in an armed struggle against the Turkish state since the 1980s in pursuit of its objective to secure autonomy for Kurds in the country.

UN migration agency says large-scale return of Syrians would ‘overwhelm’ the country

GENEVA — The head of the U.N. migration agency says that large-scale returns of Syrians to their homeland at this stage would “overwhelm” the country.

Syria’s civil war has displaced millions of people since 2011. The fall of Bashar Assad’s government earlier this month has fueled talk of the refugees’ leaving some of the countries where they went.

Amy Pope, the director-general of the International Organization for Migration, told reporters Friday after returning from a visit to Syria that her agency’s message to countries in Europe and elsewhere is that “this is not the moment to talk about large-scale returns.”

Pope said that communities “are just not ready to absorb the people who are displaced and would come back.” She argued that if “overwhelming numbers” of people return, “it will overwhelm the country and it could risk more disruptive impact on a very fragile peace process.”

Pope said it’s right to support individuals on a case-by-case basis who want to go home or know that their place of origin is safe, but that efforts now need to focus on the humanitarian situation, recovery and rebuilding.

Swedish government ending ‘core support’ for the UN relief agency for Palestinians

STOCKHOLM — The Swedish government says it is ending its “core support” for the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians.

The government said Friday that 800 million kronor ($72.4 million) being allocated for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the region next year will go through the channels of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the government’s support for other agencies such as the World Food Program, the U.N. Children’s Fund, the U.N. Population Fund and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In October, Israel’s parliament approved legislation banning UNRWA’s activities in the Palestinian territories, a measure that was to take effect in 90 days.

Sweden’s minister for international development cooperation and foreign trade, Benjamin Dousa, posted on X that the Israeli decision will make much of UNRWA’s work difficult or impossible.

He said that Swedish aid must arrive and not get stuck in a bank account en route, and that the Israeli parliament’s decision forces it to pass on support to other organizations. Dousa added that UNRWA is undergoing a crisis of confidence.

Sweden provided 451 million kronor to UNRWA this year.

For decades, UNRWA has operated networks of schools, medical facilities and other services around Gaza and the West Bank — as well as in neighboring Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. In Gaza especially, it plays a major role in maintaining social services and the economy, as the territory’s largest single employer and the source of education and health care for much of the population.

The Associated Press