BEIRUT: Lebanon recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases since February on Wednesday. The 1,459 new cases brought the total to more than 48,000, while the number of deaths has risen by nine to 433.
Among the cases registered on Wednesday was former Lebanese Justice Minister Gen. Ashraf Rifi, who announced a week ago that his son had contracted the virus.
Medical staff are concerned about a number of hospitals in Beirut reaching their maximum capacity, especially in intensive care units (ICUs).
UNRWA spokesperson Hoda Samra warned that there was a coronavirus outbreak in Palestinian refugee camps. She said that the camps were overcrowded, and people were not committing to staying at home or following preventive measures.
The Lebanese authorities said they would start a phased reopening of schools next Monday, admitting only senior students at this stage.
Hilda El-Khoury, director of the counseling and guidance department at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, said: “Initially, 60,000 students out of the 120,000 currently enrolled in intermediate and high schools will be returning to schools in stages. There are students, however, who will not return within the next two weeks because the areas where they live are in lockdown due to the spread of COVID-19.”
The Committee to Oversee the COVID-19 Preparedness and Response in Lebanon recommended the closure of all nightclubs, discotheques, and bars until further notice. The committee also required identifying the towns with a high daily infection rate on a weekly basis so as to include them in the closure decision.
The committee’s decisions have been criticized by the Policy Rationalization Center of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut (AUB). The center described the current state of the COVID-19 outbreak in Lebanon as “terrifying, with 10 percent of all PCR tests returning positive results.” Moreover, “80 percent of the ICU beds designated for Covid-19 cases are full, some towns have been quarantined, complying with the preventive measures is history, and there is no clear assessment of the readiness of schools in this context. This means that the current situation clearly does not allow for the reopening of schools.”
The center said: “The best option now is to pursue remote education,” stressing that “the timing for reopening schools cannot be determined by the number of days, but through a series of health conditions that must be met, such as monitoring the rate of the virus transmission in the community and implementing a strict monitoring system based on tests, tracing people in contact with the cases, isolating the cases, and the extent to which a school is willing and capable of implementing and maintaining the preventive measures.”
It said that 170 educational institutions in Beirut were damaged in the Aug. 4 port blast, and this has taken a toll on continuing the education of 70,000 students and the lives of 7,600 teachers.
While medical professionals are busy fighting this pandemic, the financial crisis facing Lebanon has caused the Banque du Liban to remove subsidies on sanitation materials, including those used in hospitals. Lebanon may also reduce subsidies on medicines, fuel, and wheat due to the shortage of foreign exchange reserves.
Suleiman Haroun, head of the Syndicate of Private Hospitals, warned against this move. He said: “Hospitals will have to make patients pay the difference in cost.”
Lebanon registers sharp rise in number of COVID-19 cases
https://arab.news/m9ru6
Lebanon registers sharp rise in number of COVID-19 cases
- The Lebanese authorities said they would start a phased reopening of schools next Monday, admitting only senior students at this stage
- UNRWA spokesperson Hoda Samra warned that there was a coronavirus outbreak in Palestinian refugee camps
Israel says Hamas committed two violations of Gaza ceasefire deal
JERUSALEM: Israel said on Sunday that Hamas had violated a ceasefire agreement, which came into effect one week ago and has so far resulted in the release of seven hostages and dozens of Palestinian prisoners.
“During the execution of the second phase of the swap yesterday, Hamas committed two violations. Arbel Yehud, a civilian hostage who was scheduled for release on Saturday, has not been freed, and the detailed list of all hostages’ statuses has not been provided,” said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Israeli fire kills 2, wounds 32, on deadline for Lebanon withdrawal
- Israel was all but certain to miss Sunday’s deadline, which is part of a ceasefire agreement that ended its war with Hezbollah
- The Lebanese army said it was ‘ready to continue its deployment as soon as the Israeli enemy withdraws’
KFAR KILA, Lebanon: Israeli troops fired at residents of south Lebanon on Sunday, killing two and wounding 32, health officials said, as hundreds of people tried to return to their homes on the deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from the area.
Israel was all but certain to miss Sunday’s deadline, which is part of a ceasefire agreement that ended its war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group two months ago.
The deal that took effect on November 27 said the Lebanese army was to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period.
That period ends on Sunday.
Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli forces had opened fire in at least two border towns on “citizens who were trying to return to their villages,” killing two and wounding 32.
The ministry had previously said the “aggression” had centered on the two villages of Houla and Kfar Kila.
Earlier, Lebanon’s official National News Agency had reported that Israeli fire wounded several people in Kfar Kila “who crossed the barrier and checkpoint put in place by the occupation army,” referring to Israel.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued a message earlier on Sunday to residents of more than 60 villages in southern Lebanon, including Kfar Kila and Houla, telling them not to return.
AFP journalists said convoys of vehicles carrying hundreds of people were trying to return to several villages despite the military’s continued presence.
AFPTV live images from Kfar Kila showed crowds gathered, some with yellow Hezbollah flags, near Lebanese security vehicles that blocked a road near a petrol station.
Beyond them sat another military vehicle on an empty stretch of the road.
On Saturday, the Lebanese army said a delay in implementing the agreement was the “result of the procrastination in the withdrawal from the Israeli enemy’s side.”
Israeli forces have left coastal areas of southern Lebanon, but are still present in areas further east.
The ceasefire deal stipulates that Hezbollah pull back its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that “the ceasefire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state,” so the military’s withdrawal would continue beyond the Sunday deadline.
“The withdrawal process is conditional upon the Lebanese army deploying in southern Lebanon and fully and effectively enforcing the agreement, with Hezbollah withdrawing beyond the Litani River,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
It added that “the gradual withdrawal process will continue in full coordination with the United States,” a key ally and one of the monitors of the ceasefire.
The Lebanese army said it was “ready to continue its deployment as soon as the Israeli enemy withdraws.”
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayad said on Saturday that Israel’s “excuses” were a pretext to “pursue a scorched earth policy” in border areas that would make the return of displaced residents impossible.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who took office earlier this month, spoke on Saturday with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, whose government is also involved in overseeing the truce.
According to a statement from his office, Aoun spoke of the “need to oblige Israel to respect the terms of the deal in order to maintain stability in the south.”
Aoun also said Israel must “end its successive violations, including the destruction of border villages... which would prevent the return of residents.”
Macron’s office, in its summary of the conversation, said the French president had called on all parties to the ceasefire to honor their commitments as soon as possible.
On January 17, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for Israel to end its military operations and “occupation” in the south.
The fragile ceasefire has generally held, even as the warring sides have repeatedly traded accusations of violating it.
The Israeli military has continued to carry out frequent strikes that it says targeted Hezbollah fighters, and Lebanese state media has reported that Israeli forces were carrying out demolitions in villages they control.
The November 27 deal ended two months of full-scale war that had followed months of low-intensity exchanges.
Hezbollah began trading cross-border fire with the Israeli army the day after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by its Palestinian ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza.
Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in September, launching a series of devastating blows against the group’s leadership and killing its longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah warned on Thursday that “any violation of the 60-day deadline will be considered a flagrant violation” of the ceasefire agreement and “an infringement on Lebanese sovereignty.”
The group refrained from any threat to resume attacks on Israel but said the Lebanese state should use “all means necessary... to restore the land and wrest it from the clutches of the occupation.”
WHO chief urges end to attacks on Sudan health care after 70 killed in drone strike
- WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: ‘We continue to call for a cessation of all attacks on health care in Sudan’
The head of the World Health Organization called on Saturday for an end to attacks on health care workers and facilities in Sudan after a drone attack on a hospital in Sudan’s North Darfur region killed more than 70 people and wounded dozens.
“As the only functional hospital in El Fasher, the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital provides services which include gyn-obstetrics, internal medicine, surgery and pediatrics, along with a nutrition stabilization center,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X after the Friday strike.
“We continue to call for a cessation of all attacks on health care in Sudan, and to allow full access for the swift restoration of the facilities that have been damaged,” Tedros said.
The war between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which broke out in April 2023 due to disputes over the integration of the two forces, has killed tens of thousands, driven millions from their homes and plunged half of the population into hunger.
The conflict has produced waves of ethnically driven violence blamed largely on the RSF, creating a humanitarian crisis.
Darfur Governor Mini Minnawi said on X that an RSF drone had struck the emergency department of the hospital in the capital of North Darfur, killing patients, including women and children.
Fierce clashes have erupted in El Fasher between the RSF and the Sudanese joint forces, including the army, armed resistance groups, police, and local defense units.
Devastating toll for Gaza’s children: Over 13,000 killed and an estimated 25,000 injured, UN says
- UN says out of 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far, roughly a third or 13,319 were children
- Nearly 19,000 children were hospitalized for acute malnutrition in four months before December 2025
UNITED NATIONS: The war in Gaza has been devastating for children: More than 13,000 have been killed, an estimated 25,000 injured, and at least 25,000 hospitalized for malnutrition, according to UN agencies.
As Britain’s deputy UN ambassador, James Kariuki, recently told the Security Council, “Gaza has become the deadliest place in the world to be a child.”
“The children of Gaza did not choose this war,” he said, “yet they have paid the ultimate price.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported Thursday that of the 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far in Gaza, one-third – 13,319 – were children. The office said Friday the figures came from Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said the estimate of 25,000 children injured came from its analysis based on information collected together with Gaza’s Health Ministry.
UN deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said nearly 19,000 children had been hospitalized for acute malnutrition in the four months before December.
That figure also came from UNICEF, which said it was from data collected by UN staff in Gaza focusing on nutrition, in coordination with all pertinent UN agencies.
The UN says thousands of children have also been orphaned or separated from their parents during the 15-month war.
Yasmine Sherif, executive director of the UN global fund Education Cannot Wait, told a press conference that 650,000 school-age children haven’t been attending classes and the entire education system has to be rebuilt because of the widespread destruction in Gaza.
Diplomats from Britain, France and other countries also cited the toll on Israeli children who were killed, injured and abducted during Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 – with some still being held hostage.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon asked the Security Council whether it ever paused to consider the plight of Israeli children “mutilated, tortured and murdered” on Oct. 7, the 30 who were kidnapped and the tens of thousands who have been displaced, their homes destroyed.
“The trauma they have endured is beyond imagination,” he said.
Danon called Thursday’s council meeting on children in Gaza “an affront to common sense,” accusing Hamas of turning Gaza into “the world’s largest terror base” and using children as human shields.
“The children of Gaza could have had a future filled with opportunity,” he said. “Instead, they are trapped in a cycle of violence and despair, all because of Hamas, not because of Israel.”
Devastating toll for Gaza’s children: Over 13,000 killed and an estimated 25,000 injured, UN says
- The UN says thousands of children have also been orphaned or separated from their parents during the 15-month war
UNITED NATIONS: The war in Gaza has been devastating for children: More than 13,000 have been killed, an estimated 25,000 injured, and at least 25,000 hospitalized for malnutrition, according to UN agencies.
As Britain’s deputy UN ambassador, James Kariuki, recently told the Security Council, “Gaza has become the deadliest place in the world to be a child.”
“The children of Gaza did not choose this war,” he said, “yet they have paid the ultimate price.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported Thursday that of the 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far in Gaza, one-third – 13,319 – were children. The office said Friday the figures came from Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said the estimate of 25,000 children injured came from its analysis based on information collected together with Gaza’s Health Ministry.
UN deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said nearly 19,000 children had been hospitalized for acute malnutrition in the four months before December.
That figure also came from UNICEF, which said it was from data collected by UN staff in Gaza focusing on nutrition, in coordination with all pertinent UN agencies.
The UN says thousands of children have also been orphaned or separated from their parents during the 15-month war.
Yasmine Sherif, executive director of the UN global fund Education Cannot Wait, told a press conference that 650,000 school-age children haven’t been attending classes and the entire education system has to be rebuilt because of the widespread destruction in Gaza.
Diplomats from Britain, France and other countries also cited the toll on Israeli children who were killed, injured and abducted during Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 – with some still being held hostage.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon asked the Security Council whether it ever paused to consider the plight of Israeli children “mutilated, tortured and murdered” on Oct. 7, the 30 who were kidnapped and the tens of thousands who have been displaced, their homes destroyed.
“The trauma they have endured is beyond imagination,” he said.
Danon called Thursday’s council meeting on children in Gaza “an affront to common sense,” accusing Hamas of turning Gaza into “the world’s largest terror base” and using children as human shields.
“The children of Gaza could have had a future filled with opportunity,” he said. “Instead, they are trapped in a cycle of violence and despair, all because of Hamas, not because of Israel.”
