UN peacekeepers on Israel-Lebanon border ‘fundamental’, says chief
The role of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, was today “more important than ever,” Under Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix told AFP
“It’s the only liaison channel between the Israeli side and the Lebanese side in all its components, such as Hezbollah“
Updated 06 August 2024
AFP
PARIS: UN peacekeepers on the Israeli-Lebanese border have never been more crucial, the force’s global chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said Tuesday, as fears soared of an escalation in the Middle East.
Since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking a war in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Lebanese movement Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily cross-border fire.
But worry has grown of a wider regional conflict, especially after the killing, blamed on Israel, of a top Hamas leader in Iran and an Israeli air strike that killed a Hezbollah commander in the Beirut southern suburbs last week.
The role of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, was today “more important than ever,” Under Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix told AFP.
“It’s the only liaison channel between the Israeli side and the Lebanese side in all its components, such as Hezbollah,” he said.
“It’s fundamental because it allows us to clarify certain things and avoid misunderstandings... miscalculations, uncontrolled and unwanted escalations,” he said.
UNIFIL, which has around 10,000 troops based in south Lebanon, was also key in informing all sides “when, for example, there are people who have been wounded or even killed in the area and someone needs to go in to rescue them or remove the bodies.”
The troops also continued to carry out regular patrols “in liaison with the Lebanese army,” he said.
Lacroix said the peacekeepers were staying in place for now, and only if it became impossible for them to carry out their mission or if there were “very, very serious threats” to their security would their presence be reconsidered.
The peacekeeping force had already seen several of its members wounded, and damage done to some of its camps, he said.
In the past, UNIFIL patrols have occasionally faced harassment, and in December 2022 an Irish soldier with the force was killed and three colleagues wounded when their convoy came under fire in south Lebanon.
The UN peacekeeping chief said a Gaza ceasefire was key to de-escalation on the Israeli-Lebanon border.
“What we want is a cessation of hostilities in Gaza as well as between Lebanon and Israel straight away, because each day that goes by brings its batch of victims, destruction and displacements, and it cannot last,” he said.
“Every day that goes by also compounds an absolutely terrible risk of uncontrolled escalations, of conflagrations in the entire region.”
Almost 10 months of cross-border violence has killed at least 555 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including 116 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
On the Israeli side, 22 soldiers and 25 civilians have been killed, the Israeli authorities say.
“Probably, after what has happened in the past days, the chances of progress toward a Gaza deal, at least in the short term, are weak,” he added.
“But it is hoped that a cessation of hostilities in Gaza would lead to the same thing between Israel and Lebanon.”
Once a ceasefire was in place, both sides would have to return to a “substantial negotiation process” to finally implement UN Security Council resolution 1701.
That decision ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and called for the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers to be the only armed forces deployed in the country’s south.
Lacroix said he was optimistic the UN Security Council would renew UNIFIL’s mandate, which runs out at the end of the month, for another year.
Successful ‘polio pause’ prompts renewed calls for permanent Gaza ceasefire
Destruction of water and sanitation services caused the highly infectious virus to re-emerge
With most primary roads destroyed, families and aid agencies faced perilous journeys to vaccination sites
Updated 17 sec ago
ANAN TELLO
LONDON: The UN’s polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has been deemed a success, even though it was conducted in “the most dangerous and difficult (place) on the planet.” However, Palestinian civilians remain at significant risk of injury, illness and death amid the ongoing conflict.
A pause in the fighting between the Israeli military and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in and around the vaccination sites has been critical for the immunization campaign. However, elsewhere in the war-torn territory, the fighting continued.
On Sept. 7, just as medical teams were wrapping up the second phase of the vaccination campaign, Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip killed scores of people — including children.
A man inspects the damage following an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City on September 7, 2024. (AFP)
The vaccination campaign was launched in Gaza after an 11-month-old baby was diagnosed with the viral disease in August, marking the first case in the Strip for 25 years, raising fears it could spread to neighboring countries.
Adele Khodr, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at UNICEF, described the three-phase campaign as one of “the most dangerous and difficult vaccination campaigns on the planet.”
“Even with a polio pause, the vaccination campaign faces grave danger and immeasurable obstacles, including damaged roads and health infrastructure, displaced populations, looting and disrupted supply routes,” she said in a statement on Sept. 4.
“Children have suffered enough,” she added, warning that the reemergence of the virus is now “threatening other children in the region.”
A child has their finger marked after receiving a vaccination for polio at a makeshift camp in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on September 5, 2024. (AFP)
Polio, which spreads through contact with the feces, saliva or nasal mucus of an infected individual, attacks nerves in the spinal cord and the brain stem, leading to partial or total paralysis within hours.
It can also immobilize chest muscles, causing trouble breathing, even leading to death.
Wild poliovirus cases have fallen by more than 99 percent since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries, to six reported cases in 2021.
Of the three strains of wild poliovirus, Type 2 was eradicated in 1999 and Type 3 was eradicated in 2020. As of 2022, endemic Type 1 remained in just two countries — Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Children stand next to raw sewage at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on August 19, 2024. (AFP)
In Gaza, overcrowding, a lack of clean water and hygiene materials, a deteriorating health system, and the destruction of sanitation plants have all contributed to the reemergence of Type 2 in the water supply.
According to UNICEF, the first phase of the polio vaccination program, which ran from Sept. 1 to 3 in central Gaza, reached more than 189,000 children under the age of 10.
The second phase was carried out in southern Gaza, particularly in Khan Younis and Rafah, from Sept. 5 to 8, targeting approximately 340,000 children under 10.
The third phase, which was launched on Sept. 9, is scheduled to run until Sept. 11, targeting some 150,000 children in the north.
IN NUMBERS
680K Children in Gaza targeted under the UN’s polio vaccination campaign.
92% Primary roads damaged or destroyed, obstructing vaccine distribution.
70% Water and sanitation plants damaged or destroyed, contributing to outbreak.
(Source: UN, World Bank)
Coinciding with the vaccine’s rollout on Sept. 1, the director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote on the social media platform X that “ultimately, the best vaccine for these children is peace.”
However, the area-specific truces that allowed the rollout to take place have done little to provide the children of Gaza with hope of a lasting end to the violence.
While vaccination sites have not been targeted, Gazan families, wearied by 11 months of war and worsening humanitarian conditions, had to make the perilous journey with their children to these locations amid the ongoing bombardment.
Lack of clean water and hygiene materials, a deteriorating health system, and the destruction of sanitation plants have all contributed to the reemergence of polio in Gaza. (AFP)
Khodr praised the families for turning out “in high numbers” at vaccination sites, “despite relentless attacks on schools and sites sheltering uprooted children, exhausting displacement orders forcing families to relocate time and again, and widespread hunger levels that have at points pushed parts of Gaza to the brink of famine.”
Not only has the journey to vaccination units been long and exhausting for Gazan families, but also for humanitarian teams delivering and administering the vaccines.
With 92 percent of Gaza’s primary roads damaged or destroyed, according to the World Bank, civilians and medical workers were all forced to use a single route — Al-Bahar Street.
“Unfortunately, only one road in Gaza remains operational, and it’s Al-Bahar Street,” Fady Abed, the Gaza communications officer for the medical NGO MedGlobal, told Arab News.
“This is the sole road servicing about 1.9 million displaced people in Al-Mawasi, western Khan Younis, Rafah and Deir Al-Balah.”
Palestinian residents walk along a road now dirt, past destroyed and razed buildings east of Gaza City on July 11, 2024. (AFP)
An April report by the World Bank and the UN highlighted that severe damage to road networks and the communications infrastructure has hampered the delivery of much-needed basic humanitarian aid to people across Gaza.
When he spoke with Arab News on Sept. 5, Abed of MedGlobal had just returned to Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza from working in Khan Younis.
Describing the logistical challenges his team has been facing, he said the journey between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis, normally no more than 15 minutes, now takes over an hour.
Abed also said transportation has been a major challenge due to fuel shortages. “There is no fuel for cars,” he said. “Drivers have resorted to mixing vegetable oil with diesel to keep vehicles running, which results in harmful smoke emissions.
“To vaccinate your child, you risk them suffocating from vehicle fumes.”
MedGlobal’s team delivering polio vaccines in Khan Younis on Sep. 5. (Supplied)
And since the vaccine must be kept cold at all times, MedGlobal could only carry as many doses as they expected to administer. Abed said his team “avoided carrying large quantities of the vaccine to prevent it from spoiling after being kept outside coolers for too long.
“At one point, the number of children arriving at the vaccination unit exceeded the available doses. Members of our team had to make the long, arduous journey back and forth to replenish the supply while families waited.
“This was frustrating for both our team and the families, who were exhausted yet eager to have their children vaccinated.”
Israel mounted its Gaza operation in retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, which saw 1,200 killed and 250 taken hostage. At least 40,900 Palestinians have been killed and more than 94,450 injured since the conflict began, according to Gaza’s health authority.
Palestinian children receive malnourishment treatment at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on May 30, 2024. (AFP)
Around 90 percent of the population has been displaced at least once, fleeing from one Israeli-designated “safe zone” to another.
The Israeli bombardment has devastated much of Gaza’s infrastructure, bringing the health sector and sanitation services to their knees and causing the resurgence and spread of multiple infectious diseases.
According to UN figures, the conflict has damaged or destroyed 70 percent of Gaza’s water and sanitation plants.
Palestinian children queue at a water distribution point in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip on August 25, 2024. (AFP)
In late July, Gaza’s health authority declared the enclave a “polio epidemic zone,” attributing the resurgence of the virus to the damage caused by Israel’s bombing campaign.
UNICEF’s Khodr called on the warring parties to continue to respect the polio pauses. Achieving at least 90 percent vaccination coverage in Gaza would stop the virus from spreading, she said.
“Preparing for this ambitious campaign and securing these pauses was not easy but it demonstrates that it is possible to allow supplies into the Strip, silence the strikes and protect civilians.”
Effective UN Security Council measures needed to stop Israeli attacks on civilians, PM Mikati says
Al-Fajr Forces join Hezbollah in attacks on northern Israel
Updated 40 min 27 sec ago
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati convened with ambassadors from Western nations and representatives of international organizations on Monday to discuss recent events in southern Lebanon, including Israeli aggression against its Civil Defense workers.
Mikati emphasized the necessity for the UN Security Council to adopt more effective and decisive measures in addressing violations and attacks by Israel on Lebanese civilians.
He also asserted that “the response from the Security Council must be prompt and robust, aimed at safeguarding innocent civilians and the Civil Defense personnel who are striving diligently to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population.”
Mikati urged “the Security Council to assume its responsibility in upholding international law and security by holding accountable those responsible for targeting Lebanese civilians.”
He reaffirmed Lebanon’s commitment to peace and stability and the protection of its people, and added that international cooperation and support were crucial for achieving lasting stability in the region.
The prime minister’s comments came as Al-Fajr Forces — the military wing of the Al-Jama’ah Al-Islamiyah movement — joined the military escalation involving the Iran-backed Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
The group’s move heightened tensions on Monday along the southern front in Lebanon.
Explosions were reported on the Israeli side after Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israeli military positions, while the Israeli army intensified its airstrikes on southern towns.
The recent escalation of confrontations has signaled a return to the precarious situation which had existed prior to Aug. 25.
An Israeli attack on the town of Froun in Lebanon resulted in the deaths of three Civil Defense paramedics, Qassem Bazi, Mohammed Hashim, and Abbas Hamoud, while two others sustained serious injuries.
Israeli army radio announced that Hezbollah had targeted northern Israel with three waves of rocket fire, resulting in damage to a building in Kiryat Shmona, and added that the group had “launched about 100 rockets towards northern Israel in the past 24 hours.”
Hezbollah announced on Monday that it had targeted “the Ma’ayan Baruch site with missile fire, achieving a direct hit.”
Sirens were activated in the Manara settlement in Upper Galilee, as well as in Kiryat Shmona and its surrounding areas.
The Israeli military reported “the detection of two drones that infiltrated from Lebanon, with one of them landing in Nahariya.”
The Israel Fire and Rescue Authority said that “a multi-story building in Nahariya, located approximately 14 km from the Lebanese border, sustained a direct hit.”
Rescue teams assessed the damage and conducted searches.
Shahar Toledano, whose apartment was hit by the drone, reportedly told Israeli media: “I was sitting with my insurance agent. Suddenly, we heard one siren go off and then one after the other. We rushed into the bunker, and heard a very loud boom.
“The windows were blown away, and shrapnel went everywhere. We are used to the sound of explosions, but not such explosions.”
A siren went off in Arab Al-Aramsha, located near the border with Lebanon, while Hezbollah confirmed that it had “targeted the headquarters of the Golani Brigade and Egoz Unit 621 in the Shagra barracks north of Acre with suicide drones.”
In addition, Al-Fajr Forces later announced that it had “targeted and directly hit Beit Hillel sites near Kiryat Shmona with rockets.”
Hezbollah went on to announce that it had “intercepted an Israeli warplane, bombed the new Western Brigade Command headquarters in the south of the Yaara barracks, and targeted Israel’s Al-Marj military site with artillery shells.”
In the later hours of Monday, Hezbollah claimed a series of new operations had targeted “the surveillance equipment at Al-Ramtha site in the occupied Lebanese Kfar Shuba Hills, Habushit and Jal Al-Alam.”
US urges Israel to conclude probe into killing of American activist in West Bank
WAFA said the incident took place during a regular protest march by activists in Beita, village near Nablus that has seen attacks on Palestinians by Jewish settlers
Updated 43 min 25 sec ago
Reuters
WASHINGTON: The United States called on Israel on Monday to complete a full inquiry into the killing of an American Turkish woman last week in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, saying it believes Israel has begun such a probe.
Turkish and Palestinian officials said on Friday that Israeli troops shot 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who had been taking part in a protest against settlement expansion.
“Our understanding is that our partners in Israel are looking into the circumstances of what happened, and we expect them to make their findings public, and expect that whatever those findings are, expect them to be thorough and transparent,” US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told a news briefing.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby later said Israel was understood to be “moving swiftly on this investigation” and was expected to present its findings and conclusions in the coming days.
Palestinian news agency WAFA said the incident took place during a regular protest march by activists in Beita, a village near Nablus that has seen repeated attacks on Palestinians by Jewish settlers.
Israel’s military said it was looking into reports that a female foreign national “was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review.”
Patel and Kirby did not provide further information on the circumstances of the killing and said Washington would withhold judgment until Israel presents its findings.
Turkiye’s President Tayyip Erdogan condemned Eygi’s death, saying in a post on social media that Turkiye “will continue to work in every platform to halt Israel’s policy of occupation and genocide.” Israel denies its actions in occupied Palestinian territories amount to genocide.
A rise in violent attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank has stirred anger among Western allies of Israel, including the United States, which has imposed sanctions on some Israelis involved in the settler movement.
Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state.
Israel has built settlements there that most countries deem illegal. Israel disputes that assertion, citing historical and biblical ties to the land.
Iran rejects Western accusations of arms exports to Russia
Updated 50 min 15 sec ago
AFP
TEHRAN: Iran rejected Western accusations on Monday that it sent arms to Russia for the war in Ukraine.
The EU said its allies had shared intelligence that Iran supplied Russia with ballistic missiles. It warned new sanctions could be imposed on Tehran if the deliveries were confirmed.
“We strongly reject the claims of Iran’s role in exporting arms to one side of the war,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani told a news conference.
Russia and Iran are both under international sanctions that restrict trade, but they have forged strong ties in various sectors, including military cooperation.
US media outlets reported last week that Washington believed Iran had transferred the weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine, citing anonymous sources.
“We are aware of the credible information provided by allies on the delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia,” EU spokesman Peter Stano said.
“We are looking further into it with our member states and if confirmed, this delivery would represent a substantive material escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.”
Stano added that “the EU leaders’ unanimous position has always been clear. The EU will respond swiftly and in coordination with international partners, including with new and significant restrictive measures against Iran.”
The Kremlin did not issue a denial on Monday when asked specifically about the Wall Street Journal report that Iran had sent missiles.
“We have seen this report, it is not every time that this kind of information is true,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“Iran is our important partner, we are developing our trade and economic relations, we are developing our cooperation and dialogue in all possible areas, including the most sensitive areas.”
The US has said any deliveries would invoke a “severe” response and damage Tehran’s efforts to improve relations with the West following the election of reformist Masoud Pezeshkian as president.
Faced with punishing Western sanctions, Moscow has turned to Iran and North Korea for weapons supplies to keep its war machine going in Ukraine.
Ukraine says it has been attacked with Iranian-designed Shahed drones on an almost daily basis from Russia, and has found fragments of North Korean missiles on its territory.
The reported delivery of missiles to Russia comes as the Kremlin has once again stepped up its bombing campaign against Ukraine’s key infrastructure ahead of winter.
Meanwhile, Latvia’s armed forces said on Monday the Russian drone that crashed on the Baltic state’s territory was an Iranian-designed Shahed equipped with explosives.
Riga had earlier announced that investigators were looking into a drone that had crashed in the eastern part of the country on Saturday.
Latvia has had tense relations with Moscow following independence, and ties have further deteriorated since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
UN chief calls death and destruction in Gaza the worst he’s seen
Guterres said: “The level of suffering we are witnessing in Gaza is unprecedented in my mandate as secretary-general of the UN”
Updated 09 September 2024
AP
UNITED NATIONS: The UN chief said Monday that the United Nations has offered to monitor any ceasefire in Gaza and demanded an end to the worst death and destruction he has seen in his more than seven-year tenure.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview with The Associated Press that it’s “unrealistic” to think the UN could play a role in Gaza’s future, either by administering the territory or providing a peacekeeping force, because Israel is unlikely to accept a UN role.
But he said “the UN will be available to support any ceasefire.” The United Nations has had a military monitoring mission in the Middle East, known as UNTSO, since 1948, and he said, “from our side, this was one of the hypotheses that we’ve put on the table.”
“Of course, we’ll be ready to do whatever the international community asked for us,” Guterres said. “The question is whether the parties would accept it, and in particular whether Israel would accept it.”
Israel’s military assault on Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, has stretched for 11 months, with recent ceasefire talks failing to reach a breakthrough and violence in the West Bank reaching new highs.
Stressing the urgency of a ceasefire now, Guterres said: “The level of suffering we are witnessing in Gaza is unprecedented in my mandate as secretary-general of the United Nations. I’ve never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in Gaza in the last few months.”
The war has killed over 40,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have accused the UN of being anti-Israel and have been highly critical of UN humanitarian operations in Gaza. Facing protests at home and increasing urgency from allies, Netanyahu has pushed back against pressure for a ceasefire deal and declared that “no one will preach to me.”
Looking beyond a ceasefire, Guterres stressed that a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not only viable, “it’s the only solution.”
The United States and others support Palestinian statehood, but Netanyahu, who is leading the most conservative government in Israel’s history, has opposed calls for a two-state solution.
Guterres asked rhetorically whether the alternative is viable.
“It means that you have 5 million Palestinians living there without any rights in a state,” he said. “Is it possible? Can we accept an idea similar to what we had in South Africa in the past?“
He was referring to South Africa’s apartheid system from 1948 until the early 1990s when its minority white population marginalized and segregated people of color, especially Black people.
“I do not think you can have two peoples living together if they are not in a basis of equality, and if they are not in a basis of respect — mutual respect of their rights,” Guterres said. “So the two-state solution is, in my opinion, a must if we want to have peace in the Middle East.”
