Israel hits south Gaza as top US diplomat Blinken seeks de-escalation

Israel hits south Gaza as top US diplomat Blinken seeks de-escalation
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gestures as he arrives in Tel Aviv. (AFP)
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Updated 09 January 2024
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Israel hits south Gaza as top US diplomat Blinken seeks de-escalation

Israel hits south Gaza as top US diplomat Blinken seeks de-escalation
  • Gaza’s health ministry said 73 dead and 99 wounded had arrived at Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza’s Deir Al-Balah city over the previous 24 hours
  • Two journalists working for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network were killed on Sunday

Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories: Israel hit targets in south Gaza and across its border with Lebanon, the army said Monday ahead of a visit by the top US diplomat who is seeking to avert a wider war.
Gaza’s health ministry said 73 dead and 99 wounded had arrived at Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza’s Deir Al-Balah city over the previous 24 hours.
Three months into its battle with Gaza-based Hamas militants, Israel’s army says its focus has moved from the northern Gaza Strip to “dismantling” militants in the center and south of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.
In the southern city of Khan Yunis, troops and warplanes overnight Sunday-Monday struck 30 militant targets which a military statement described as “significant.” These included underground targets and weapons storage facilities, it said.
A drone also killed 10 militants “preparing to launch rockets toward Israeli territory,” the statement added.
Also overnight, the military said it had hit “numerous Hezbollah targets” in Lebanon.
Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, a Hamas ally, have engaged in regular cross-border fire during the war that began an October 7 with Hamas’s unprecedented attack against Israel.
But a strike last week in a Beirut stronghold of Hezbollah has been a major factor contributing to rising fears of spreading conflict. A US Defense Department official has told AFP that Israel carried out the strike that killed Hamas’s deputy leader Saleh Al-Aruri.
The Hamas attack which triggered the war resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The militants, considered a “terrorist” group by the United States and European Union, also took around 250 hostages, 132 of whom remain captive, Israel says. At least 24 are believed to have been killed.
Israel has responded with relentless bombardment and a ground invasion that have killed at least 22,835 people, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.
On his fourth regional trip since the war began, Blinken held talks earlier Monday with President of the UAE Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi.

 


Blinken’s visit comes alongside that of other top Western diplomats trying to stop the conflict from spreading and to boost desperately needed aid to Gazans.
In Qatar on Sunday, Blinken warned that the violence could “easily metastasize” into a regional conflict.
Over the weekend Qatari officials also hosted relatives of captives still held in Gaza, said Ruby Chen, father of 19-year-old captive Itay Chen. The release of more hostages “serves the bigger objective, as they see it, which is creating regional stability,” Chen said on returning to Tel Aviv.
Qatar earlier helped mediate a one-week truce that saw dozens of hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Talks with Hamas on a new truce are “ongoing,” the emirate’s prime minister said.
Since October, violence has surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched more than 100 drone and missile strikes toward targets in the Red Sea, a major global trade route, and Israel.
Washington, Israel’s main ally that provides it with billions of dollars in military aid, has grown increasingly concerned over the war’s civilian death toll.
Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced, according to the United Nations, leaving them in overcrowded shelters or tents in the winter chill.
The World Health Organization has warned of the risk of famine and disease, with only minimal aid entering as people struggle to find water and other necessities.
Washington has said Blinken will press Israel on its compliance with international humanitarian law and ask for “immediate measures” to boost aid to Gaza.
“Our home and my son’s home have been destroyed and we have 20 people martyred in our family. I don’t know where we will go even if I survive,” said Gaza resident Nabil Fathi, 51.
Two journalists working for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network were killed on Sunday when their car was struck in southern Gaza’s city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt, the broadcaster said.
They were named as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer who also worked for AFP and other media organizations, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief who had been wounded in an earlier strike, after his wife and two other children were killed in an Israeli bombardment.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 79 journalists and media professionals, the vast majority Palestinian, have been killed since the war began.
Al-Aqsa hospital, which received the additional wounded on Monday, is one of Gaza’s few still partly functioning, but on Sunday the UN reported “sickening scenes of people of all ages being treated on blood-streaked floors and in chaotic corridors.”
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari on Saturday said forces had “dismantled” Hamas’s military leadership in northern Gaza, leaving militants there operating only sporadically without leadership.
His comment came weeks after Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in November that Hamas had “lost control” of Gaza, which it has ruled since 2007.
Live AFPTV images on Monday showed black smoke rising over Gaza’s central and southern areas, with explosions sounding.
A military statement said troops had discovered a Hamas underground “weapons production site” in morth Gaza. It also released footage of what it said were operations in the northern district of Shujaiya targeting Islamic Jihad, a militant group fighting alongside Hamas.
Despite the devastation and deprivation in Gaza’s north, members of the minority Greek Orthodox community on Sunday attended Christmas mass inside Gaza City’s richly decorated Church of Saint Porphyrius.

 


44,330 Gazans killed in more than 13 months of war

44,330 Gazans killed in more than 13 months of war
Updated 29 November 2024
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44,330 Gazans killed in more than 13 months of war

44,330 Gazans killed in more than 13 months of war
  • Medics said Israeli military strikes killed at least 17 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday

GAZA CITY: The Health Ministry in Gaza said on Thursday that at least 44,330 people have been killed in more than 13 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes 48 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 104,933 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Medics said Israeli military strikes killed at least 17 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday as forces stepped up bombardments on central areas and pushed tanks deeper in the north and south of the enclave.
Six people were killed in two separate airstrikes on a house and near the hospital of Kamal Adwan in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, while four others were killed when an Israeli strike hit a motorcycle in Khan Younis in the south.

In Nuseirat, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, Israeli planes carried out several airstrikes, destroying a multi-floor building and hitting roads outside mosques.
At least seven people were killed in some of those strikes, health officials said.
Medics said at least two people, a woman and a child, were killed in tank shelling that hit western areas of Nuseirat, while an air strike killed five others in a house nearby. In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, tanks pushed deeper into the northern-west area of the city, residents said.
Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress, and negotiations are now on hold.


Royal Jordanian, Ethiopian Airlines to resume flights to Lebanon, Gulf carriers delay decisions

Royal Jordanian, Ethiopian Airlines to resume flights to Lebanon, Gulf carriers delay decisions
Updated 28 November 2024
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Royal Jordanian, Ethiopian Airlines to resume flights to Lebanon, Gulf carriers delay decisions

Royal Jordanian, Ethiopian Airlines to resume flights to Lebanon, Gulf carriers delay decisions
  • Both airlines announce service resumption in coming days, but most foreign airlines remain wary as they monitor stability of truce
  • Lebanon’s ATTAL president says ‘7-8 companies expected to return in coming days’

LONDON: Royal Jordanian, and Ethiopian Airlines have announced the resumption of flights to Beirut following the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah that took effect on Wednesday.

However, most Gulf and European airlines are delaying any immediate return to Lebanese airspace as they monitor the stability of the truce.

Jordan’s flag carrier, Royal Jordanian, will restart flights to Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on Sunday after halting operations in late August amid escalating hostilities. CEO Samer Majali confirmed on Thursday that services would resume following the ceasefire.

Ethiopian Airlines has also reopened bookings for flights to Beirut, with services scheduled to resume on Dec. 10.

But despite these developments, most international airlines remain cautious.

Fadi Al-Hassan, director of Beirut Airport, told LBCI that Arab and foreign carriers were expected to gradually resume operations in the coming weeks, especially as the holiday season approaches.

However, Jean Abboud, president of the Association of Travel and Tourist Agents in Lebanon, predicted a slower return.

Abboud said in a statement that he expects “the return of some companies within a few days, which do not exceed seven to eight companies out of about 60 companies,” adding that many carriers were eyeing early 2025 to resume operations.

Airline updates

  • Emirates: Flights to and from Beirut remain canceled until Dec. 31.
  • Etihad Airways, Saudia, Air Arabia, Oman Air, Qatar Airways: Suspensions extend until early January 2025.
  • Lufthansa Group (including Eurowings): Flights to Beirut suspended until Feb. 28, 2025.
  • Air France-KLM: Services to Beirut suspended until Jan. 5, 2025, and Tel Aviv until Dec. 31, 2024.
  • Aegean Air: Flights to Beirut from Athens, London, and Milan are suspended until April 1, 2025.

At present, Middle East Airlines remains the sole carrier operating flights to and from Beirut, having maintained operations despite intense Israeli airstrikes near the airport.

The airline serves all major Gulf and European hubs, but flights are fully booked in the coming days as Lebanese expatriates rush to return home following the ceasefire announcement.

The upcoming Christmas season has also driven a surge in demand, offering a glimmer of hope for a country reeling from widespread destruction and an escalating economic crisis.

With the conflict having severely impacted Lebanon’s tourism sector, the holiday season could provide a much-needed lifeline for the struggling economy.

The resumption of additional services is expected to depend on whether the ceasefire holds and the overall security situation stabilizes.


UK signs deals with Iraq aimed at curbing irregular immigration

Britain’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Iraq’s Minister of Interior Abdul Amir Al-Shimmari.
Britain’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Iraq’s Minister of Interior Abdul Amir Al-Shimmari.
Updated 28 November 2024
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UK signs deals with Iraq aimed at curbing irregular immigration

Britain’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Iraq’s Minister of Interior Abdul Amir Al-Shimmari.
  • “Organized criminals operate across borders, so law enforcement needs to operate across borders too,” Cooper said
  • Pacts include a joint UK-Iraq “statement on border security” committing both countries to work more closely in tackling people smuggling and border security

LONDON: The UK government said Thursday it had struck a “world-first security agreement” and other cooperation deals with Iraq to target people-smuggling gangs and strengthen its border security.
Interior minister Yvette Cooper said the pacts sent “a clear signal to the criminal smuggling gangs that we are determined to work across the globe to go after them.”
They follow a visit this week by Cooper to Iraq and its autonomous Kurdistan region, when she met federal and regional government officials.
“Organized criminals operate across borders, so law enforcement needs to operate across borders too,” she said in a statement.
Cooper noted people-smuggling gangs’ operations “stretch back through Northern France, Germany, across Europe, to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and beyond.”
“The increasingly global nature of organized immigration crime means that even countries that are thousands of miles apart must work more closely together,” she added.
The pacts include a joint UK-Iraq “statement on border security” committing both countries to work more closely in tackling people smuggling and border security.
The two countries signed another statement on migration to speed up the returns of people who have no right to be in the UK and help reintegration programs to support returnees.
As part of the agreements, London will also provide up to £300,000 ($380,000) for Iraqi law enforcement training in border security.
It will be focused on countering organized immigration crime and narcotics, and increasing the capacity and capability of Iraq’s border enforcement.
The UK has pledged another £200,000 to support projects in the Kurdistan region, “which will enhance capabilities concerning irregular migration and border security, including a new taskforce.”
Other measures within the agreements include a communications campaign “to counter the misinformation and myths that people-smugglers post online.”
Cooper’s interior ministry said collectively they were “the biggest operational package to tackle serious organized crime and people smuggling between the two countries ever.”


Some Lebanon hospitals look set to restart quickly after ceasefire, WHO says

Some Lebanon hospitals look set to restart quickly after ceasefire, WHO says
Updated 28 November 2024
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Some Lebanon hospitals look set to restart quickly after ceasefire, WHO says

Some Lebanon hospitals look set to restart quickly after ceasefire, WHO says
  • “Probably some of our hospitals will take some time,” Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO representative in Lebanon said

GENEVA: A World Health Organization official voiced optimism on Thursday that some of the health facilities in Lebanon shuttered during more than a year of conflict would soon be operational again, if the ceasefire holds.
“Probably some of our hospitals will take some time, but some hospitals probably will be able to restart very quickly,” Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO representative in Lebanon, told an online press conference after a damage assessment this week.
“So we are very hopeful,” he added, saying four hospitals in and around Beirut were among those that could restart quickly.


Lebanon says 2 hurt as Israeli troops fire on people returning south after truce with Hezbollah

Lebanon says 2 hurt as Israeli troops fire on people returning south after truce with Hezbollah
Updated 28 November 2024
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Lebanon says 2 hurt as Israeli troops fire on people returning south after truce with Hezbollah

Lebanon says 2 hurt as Israeli troops fire on people returning south after truce with Hezbollah
  • Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded by Israeli fire in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details
  • It said Israel fired artillery in three other locations near the border

BEIRUT: At least two people were wounded by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon on Thursday, according to state media. The Israeli military said it had fired at people trying to return to certain areas on the second day of a ceasefire with Hezbollah.
The agreement, brokered by the United States and France, includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah militants are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded by Israeli fire in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. It said Israel fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.