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Red Cross chief warns of health crisis in quake-hit Syria

Syria could face dangerous outbreaks of disease in the wake of last week's devastating earthquake if hundreds of thousands of displaced people do not get permanent housing soon, the Red Cross' global chief said Thursday, as Syrians struggle to receive humanitarian aid amid the mounting crisis.

Jagan Chapagain, who is Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said families staying in makeshift shelters without adequate heating urgently need permanent housing.

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Israel demolishes West Bank home of Palestinian attacker

Israeli forces demolished the home on Thursday of a Palestinian behind a deadly shooting in the occupied West Bank, as tensions and unrest surge in the region.

The military said the demolition was carried out after an Israeli court rejected appeals to spare the residence. The home, in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron, was demolished in a controlled explosion. A flash and then grey tufts of smoke were seen emerging from the apartment in the early morning hours.

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Israeli FM visits Kyiv as pressure mounts over military aid

Israel's foreign minister arrived in Kyiv on Thursday, the first public visit to Ukraine's capital by a senior Israeli official since Russia's invasion last year.

Eli Cohen's visit came just before the first anniversary of Russian's invasion of Ukraine, and as western nations seek to increase aid to the country.

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US military downs Iranian-made drone in Syria

U.S. forces shot down an Iranian-made drone flying over a base housing American troops in northeastern Syria, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

The incident comes more than a week after a deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria, followed by a significant de-escalation of violence across the war-torn country.

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Qatar donates World Cup mobile homes to earthquake survivors

Qatar plans to send 10,000 cabins and caravans from last year's World Cup to provide shelter for survivors of the Turkish earthquakes, officials said.

The gas-rich Gulf nation says it had always planned to donate the mobile homes. They were needed to help house some of the 1.4 million fans who descended on the small country during soccer's biggest tournament.

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Gunmen storm hospital of newborn saved from quake in Syria

Gunmen have stormed a Syrian hospital that is caring for a baby girl who was born under the rubble of her family's earthquake-shattered home, and the attackers beat the facility's director, a hospital official said.

The official denied reports on social media that the Monday night attack was an attempt to kidnap the infant named Aya — Arabic for "a sign from God." She has been at the hospital since hours after the Feb. 6. earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria. Her parents and four siblings died in the disaster.

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Syria's Assad could reap rewards from aid crossing deal

A convoy of 11 trucks from a United Nations agency crossed into northern Syria from Turkey on Tuesday, just hours after the U.N. and Syrian government reached an agreement to temporarily authorize two new border crossings into the rebel enclave, devastated by the region's deadly earthquake.

Syrian officials in Damascus said the decision, seven days after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed thousands, shows their commitment to supporting victims on both sides of the front line.

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UN appeals for $397 million to help Syrian quake survivors

The United Nations chief has launched a $397 million appeal to help nearly 5 million survivors of last week's devastating earthquake in rebel-held northwest Syria who have received very little assistance because of deep divisions exacerbated by the country's 12-year war.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appeal a day after he welcomed an agreement between the U.N. and Syrian President Bashar Assad to open two new crossing points from Turkey for an initial period of three months. The U.N. has only been allowed to deliver aid to the northwest Idlib area through a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa -- at Syrian ally Russia's insistence. Since the quake, the U.N. says 84 trucks have gone through Bab Al-Hawa.

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Far-right Israeli minister Ben-Gvir targets Palestinian prisoners

Israel's far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, long accused of inflaming Jewish-Arab tensions, has set his sights on one of the conflict's most sensitive issues: Palestinian prisoners.

Since joining Israel's new government led by veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last year, Ben-Gvir has pledged to ensure Palestinian inmates are not being treated too comfortably.

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Saudi plane carrying aid lands in Syria, first in decade

A Saudi Arabian plane carrying aid to quake-hit Syria landed in second city Aleppo Tuesday -- the first in more than a decade of war, a transport ministry official told AFP.

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