Lebanon bids to please striking public sector employees with pay rise, social assistance
Political disasters are ravaging Lebanon, says top security official
Warning of ‘unprecedented crisis’ from US-Lebanese delegation
Updated 23 July 2022
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: Political observers fear a strike by Lebanon’s public sector employees that started a month ago will turn into civil disobedience if it is not dealt with properly, amid government efforts to address their grievances.
The heads of the administrative units in the Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced that they, too, would join the strike by Monday.
Ministry employees said they were joining the strike because their salaries no longer covered the cost of getting to work and because of delays in paying transport allowances and social assistance that were approved months ago.
They said they were also protesting against the “humiliation” they faced in banks while trying to withdraw their salaries, which were barely enough to feed their children and cover medicine and hospitalization costs.
But public sector employees fear their industrial action will affect their July salaries as Finance Ministry employees are also on strike.
Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, director-general of Lebanon’s General Security agency, warned that political disasters were ravaging the country and the state was “rapidly falling.”
He said: “Only the military and security institutions remain, but the country could be facing further deterioration.”
Salaries were not enough to cover basic needs, and there were no signs that Lebanon and its components were making any progress, he added.
“Everyone seems to be involved in the race for the presidency while forming a government seems to be postponed due to the current political impasse.”
He said public administration was shut and that the Lebanese were suffocating. “We do not know when it is time to surrender. We are in a country roaming on shifting sands.”
Ibrahim said the national currency’s value was ever-depreciating and that Lebanon was, unfortunately, not present at the discussion table of the regional and international community, except as a new home for refugees and displaced people.
His warnings came amid indications that public sector employees might hear some good news in the coming days.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Finance Minister Youssef Khalil have been making efforts to convince Finance Ministry employees to go to their offices to ensure all striking workers receive their July salaries on time.
The representative for the Employees Association in the government, Hassan Wehbe, said: “The initial agreement provides for giving an additional salary with the previously approved social assistance worth LBP2,000,000 ($1,326.7) in addition to an LBP95,000 transportation allowance for every work day, with incentives that may amount to a minimum of LBP200,000 LBP and a maximum of LBP300,000.”
Lebanese President Michel Aoun has signed a decree to give temporary social assistance to all public sector employees and retirees and to give the Finance Ministry an advance from the treasury to cover this assistance.
But the proposal has not satisfied the committees leading the strike. The industrial action was sparked by a decision to pay judges' salaries according to the US dollar exchange rate of LBP8,000 instead of LBP1,507, which was the official rate before the Lebanese economic collapse began in 2019.
Caretaker Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar said a meeting on Monday was expected to suggest solutions that would be in everyone’s interests, especially employees.
Hajjar said that the public sector could not function properly by only allocating two working days per week but through the possibility of allocating new revenues to the treasury.
A delegation of the Lebanese-American Coordination Committee said the country was facing an unprecedented crisis at the constitutional, sovereign, economic and social levels.
It said many sectors were severely affected and subject to massive collapse.
The observations came at the end of the delegation's visit to Lebanon, which included meetings with key government officials, parties, and activists.
The committee said that Lebanon’s friends in the international community and the Arab world had expressed keenness to save the country's identity and ensure its recovery.
“This proves that Lebanon is not left behind, and all concerned parties in the US are making sure support is provided for Lebanon, especially to the Lebanese army. The constitution must be respected and all international resolutions regarding Lebanon’s sovereignty must be implemented.
“This is a historic moment that should not be wasted because of political settlements and positions that lack courage. Wasting this opportunity could lead to Lebanon’s total collapse.”
Israel cancels waiver allowing Israeli and Palestinian banks to work together
Updated 5 sec ago
AFP
JERUSALEM: Israel canceled a waiver on Tuesday that had allowed Israeli banks to work with Palestinian ones, threatening to paralyze Palestinian financial institutions, Israel’s finance ministry said in a statement.
“Against the backdrop of the Palestinian Authority’s delegitimization campaign against the State of Israel internationally, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has instructed Accountant General CPA Yahli Rotenberg to cancel the indemnity provided to correspondent banks dealing with banks operating in Palestinian Authority territories,” the ministry said.
Smotrich had threatened in May 2024 to cut the vital connection between Israel and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank in retaliation for the recognition of the State of Palestine by three European countries.
The Palestinian financial and banking system is dependent on the regular renewal of the Israeli waiver.
It protects Israeli banks from potential legal action relating to transactions with their Palestinian counterparts, for instance in relation to financing terror.
In July, G7 countries urged Israel to “take necessary action” to ensure the continuity of Palestinian financial systems.
It came after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that “to cut Palestinian banks from Israeli counterparts would create a humanitarian crisis.”
The overwhelming majority of exchanges in the West Bank are in shekels, Israel’s national currency, because the Palestinian Authority does not have a central bank that would allow it to print its own currency.
Medical charity shuts South Sudan hospital after attacks
South Sudan has descended into renewed conflict in recent months as a power-sharing agreement between rival generals, President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, has collapsed
Updated 4 min 22 sec ago
AFP
NAIROBI: Doctors Without Borders, known as MSF, said it was forced to shut a hospital in South Sudan after violent looting, leaving a remote and conflict-plagued county without a major health facility.
MSF said its hospital in Ulang, Upper Nile State, was “completely destroyed” after armed individuals stormed the facility in April, threatened staff, and looted medicine worth $150,000.
The attack left the facility “in ruins and unable to function,” it said in a statement.
South Sudan has descended into renewed conflict in recent months as a power-sharing agreement between rival generals, President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, has collapsed.
“The extensive losses from the looting have left us without the necessary resources to continue operations. We have no other option but to make the difficult decision to close the hospital,” MSF head of mission for South Sudan, Zakaria Mwatia, said.
MSF said it has also withdrawn support from 13 primary health facilities in the county, adding that the move leaves the area “without any secondary health care facility,” with the nearest one more than 200 km away.
In May, another MSF hospital in Old Fangak in northern South Sudan was bombed, destroying its pharmacy and all its medical supplies.
The incident came after the army threatened to attack the region in response to a number of boats and barges being “hijacked” which it blamed on Machar’s allies.
South Sudan has been plagued by instability since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011.
Israel’s Netanyahu says significant progress made in talks to release hostages
Netanyahu said in a video statement that there had been progress, without providing details
Two Hamas sources told Reuters they had no knowledge of any new ceasefire offers
Updated 12 min 39 sec ago
Reuters
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that there had been “significant progress” in efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza, but that it was “too soon” to raise hopes that a deal would be reached.
Despite efforts by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to restore a ceasefire in Gaza, neither Israel nor Hamas has shown willingness to back down on core demands, with each side blaming the other for the failure to reach a deal.
Netanyahu, who has come under pressure from within his right-wing coalition to continue the war and block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, said in a video statement shared by his office that there had been progress, without providing details.
A source familiar with the negotiations said that Washington had been giving Hamas more assurances, in the form of steps that would lead to an end to the war, but said it was US officials who were optimistic, not Israeli ones. The source said there was pressure from Washington to have a deal done as soon as possible.
“There is a deal on the table. Hamas must stop acting recklessly and accept it,” a State Department official said when asked whether the US agreed with Netanyahu’s statement on the progress in talks.
“President Trump has made clear the consequences Hamas will face if it continues to hold the hostages, including the bodies of two Americans,” the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Two Hamas sources told Reuters they had no knowledge of any new ceasefire offers.
Troops opened fire and “eliminated” both Palestinians, the army said in a statement, using a term the military often uses when killing militants
Updated 16 min 1 sec ago
AFP
NABLUS: Israel launched a large-scale military operation on Tuesday in the old city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, AFP journalists reported, with the army reporting injured troops and two Palestinians “eliminated.”
Dozens of military vehicles entered the city shortly after midnight, an AFP journalist reported, after a curfew had been announced over loudspeakers the day before.
Military operations are focused on the old city, a densely populated area bordering a large downtown square where young men and boys gathered to burn tires and throw stones at armored vehicles.
The Israeli army said that one soldier was “moderately injured” and three others “lightly injured” when two Palestinians attempted to steal a soldier’s weapon.
Troops opened fire and “eliminated” both Palestinians, the army said in a statement, using a term the military often uses when killing militants.
AFPTV footage showed Israeli soldiers standing in one of the old city’s narrow streets, next to the bodies of two civilians.
Neither Palestinian medics nor the Israeli army confirmed the two deaths.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Tuesday that three people were injured from bullet shrapnel, four from “physical assaults,” and dozens more from tear gas inhalation.
It added that many injuries had to be handled within the old city after its ambulances were blocked from entering.
Nablus is located in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
The territory’s north has been the target of a major Israeli military operation dubbed “Iron Wall” since Jan. 21.
On Tuesday, Israeli soldiers entered shops to search them and arrested several people for questioning, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene.
The correspondent added that Israeli flags were raised over the roofs of buildings in the Old City that had been turned into temporary bases for Israeli troops.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, triggered by the unprecedented Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
At least 938 Palestinians, including fighters but also many civilians, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to data from the Palestinian Authority.
What daily life is really like for women and girls surviving under Israeli siege in Gaza
UN says one woman or girl is killed every hour in Gaza, with more than 28,000 deaths since Israel’s offensive began
Experts say only a ceasefire will bring critical relief to women carrying unbearable caregiving and emotional burdens
Updated 22 min 19 sec ago
JUMANA KHAMIS
DUBAI: Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, more than 28,000 women and girls have been killed — an average of one every hour — according to UN Women, making the besieged Palestinian enclave one of the most dangerous places in the world to be female.
Thousands more have been injured and nearly a million displaced. As food, water and basic healthcare become increasingly scarce under Israeli blockade, survival has turned into a daily struggle — and women and girls are bearing the brunt.
According to a group of independent UN human rights experts, nearly 13,000 women in Gaza are now the heads of their households, often caring for children without adequate shelter or essential supplies.
Experts say only a ceasefire will bring critical relief to women carrying unbearable caregiving and emotional burdens. (AFP/File)
On May 21, experts issued an urgent appeal to the UN Security Council, condemning what they described as Israel’s “unprecedented assault” on Gaza’s civilian population — and warning of its particularly devastating impact on Palestinian women and girls.
“The devastation experienced by women, girls and entire communities is not incidental — it is the consequence of intentional policies and actions by Israel,” they said.
“The killings of thousands of women and girls may constitute the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction, in whole or in part, of the Palestinian people.”
The UN says one woman or girl is killed every hour in Gaza under Israel’s aid embargo and military offensive. (AFP/File)
Israeli forces launched military operations in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which 1,200 people — mostly civilians — were killed and about 250 others, many non-Israelis, were taken hostage.
Since then, at least 56,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials. Israel maintains that it does not deliberately target civilians and accuses Hamas of using Gaza’s population as human shields.
The crisis has been compounded by repeated Israeli blockades on humanitarian aid and commercial goods, pushing the territory into famine and prompting accusations that food is being weaponized.
Despite ongoing international attempts to broker a ceasefire, the conflict has devastated the enclave, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.
“More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population, about 1.7 million people, are now estimated to be crammed into an area of 69 sq. km — less than a fifth of the Strip,” Hadeel Qazzaz, Oxfam MENA’s regional gender coordinator, told Arab News.
In overcrowded tents and displacement camps, privacy is almost nonexistent. Care responsibilities have increased for women, and water shortages are taking a disproportionate toll.
“From queuing for hours in the heat for water to facing daily health risks due to lack of proper sanitation, the lack of clean and safe latrines is leading to serious health issues, including infections among women,” said Qazzaz.
At displacement sites reached by Oxfam in May 2024, water points were reportedly located up to a kilometer away. Women and girls were spending up to three hours a day collecting water — compared to 1.7 hours for men and boys.
But water is only part of the problem. Food insecurity presents another growing threat. Nine out of 10 displacement sites show visible signs of malnutrition among residents, with female-headed households among the most vulnerable.
“Women are skipping meals so their children can eat,” said Qazzaz. “Many are putting their own health at risk to keep their families going. When food parcels arrive, women often eat last — or not at all.”
An estimated 71,000 children and 17,000 women are expected to require urgent treatment for acute malnutrition in the coming weeks, highlighting the scale of the emergency and the desperate need for sustained aid access.
“Even when food is available, women often have to cook on open fires due to fuel shortages — exposing them to health risks and doubling the time needed to prepare a meal,” said Qazzaz.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women are especially at risk, with many becoming dangerously undernourished.
Since October 2023, Gaza has seen a 300 percent increase in miscarriages. Premature births and maternal deaths have surged, with many women forced to give birth without proper medical support.
“Maternal care is nearly nonexistent,” said Qazzaz. “Women are giving birth in tents, without skilled help, clean supplies or even pain relief.”
These accounts are echoed by medical workers on the ground.
“The situation in Gaza is precarious for everyone, but especially for pregnant women,” Denise Potvin, a Canadian nursing activity manager with Medecins Sans Frontieres at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, told Arab News.
“Over the past weeks, we’ve seen malnutrition steadily increase. It’s very visible — there’s a huge vulnerability for pregnant and lactating women. The small amount of food entering Gaza through aid crossings is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of this population.”
Maternity departments are seeing more women arriving late — after giving birth at home — or showing up in emergency rooms because they couldn’t reach a hospital in time.
“Colleagues, including midwives and health professionals, are being woken up in the middle of the night to assist in home deliveries because women simply cannot reach hospitals,” said Potvin.
“Constant displacement, insecurity and lack of transport make it incredibly difficult for pregnant women to access care.”
Routine antenatal check-ups have become nearly impossible to access. With clinics shutting down, the ability to detect or treat complications has all but vanished.
“The space that organizations operate in is decreasing by the day,” said Potvin. “More people are displaced, and it’s harder to meet the growing needs of the population.”
She called on the international community to recognize the extreme vulnerability of pregnant women under siege.
“Imagine being a pregnant woman in this situation — living in a tent, unable to access prenatal care, giving birth without medical help, while also trying to feed your family, find clean water and maintain basic hygiene,” she said.
“Daily survival is already a huge challenge, and pregnancy only adds to it.”
Reports from UN Women, the UN Population Fund and independent rights monitors paint an increasingly bleak picture.
Women and girls with disabilities face even greater risks, including neglect, violence and denial of basic services.
From bombardment to birth complications, period poverty to famine, every aspect of life has been made much harder.
With 90 percent of households facing extreme water shortages, women and girls struggle to manage menstruation without access to clean water, soap, sanitary pads or private spaces.
IN NUMBERS
• 28k Women and girls killed since October 2023.
• 1m Women and girls displaced by the conflict.
• 13k Women who are now single heads of households.
• 17k Pregnant and breastfeeding women deemed acutely malnourished.
Source: UN
Around 700,000 women and girls of menstruating age — many experiencing their first periods — are facing these challenges in shelters and displacement camps.
A rapid gender analysis by Oxfam found that 690,000 menstruating women and girls lack access to clean facilities and sufficient water for basic hygiene.
Each person is allocated just 6.6 liters of water a day — less than half the global emergency minimum. Toilets are unsanitary, overcrowded and often unsafe for women and girls, with up to 1,000 people sharing a single facility.
The Oxfam report warned: “Girls are vulnerable to harassment and abuse and resort to using old clothes or only their underwear when sanitary pads are unavailable” — a situation that has led to infections, maternal complications and even infant deaths.
Despite the immense logistical challenges, the UN Population Fund continues to address urgent sexual and reproductive health needs.
Since October 2023, it has distributed two-month supplies of disposable menstrual pads to more than 300,000 women and girls. More than 12,000 new mothers have received postpartum kits for recovery in conditions where professional care is almost impossible.
To help women regain a sense of dignity and autonomy, the agency has also provided cash and voucher assistance to more than 150,000 women and girls, enabling them to buy essential hygiene items like soap, towels, pads, and underwear amid severe shortages.
These relentless hardships — from caregiving and hunger to hygiene struggles in unsafe conditions — are taking a psychological toll. Mental health issues are on the rise, with mounting reports of stress, anxiety and depression among women and girls.
With Gaza’s education system in collapse, many girls have become full-time caregivers for their younger siblings.
“Girls are being more deeply affected,” said Qazzaz. “The war has pushed many out of school and into caregiving roles. Some are being forced into early marriages as families try to reduce economic burdens.”
As household tensions rise, so too does gender-based violence.
Experts say only a ceasefire would offer immediate relief to the women and girls of Gaza.
“Even a temporary end to the violence would offer critical psychological relief for women carrying enormous emotional and caregiving burdens,” said Qazzaz. “It would give families a chance to breathe, regroup, and begin to heal.”
A truce would also help restore access to hospitals, allow medical teams to resume work, and ensure that essential aid — from food and medicine to hygiene supplies — reaches those in need.
Meanwhile, the independent UN experts have issued a stark warning about the wider implications of the conflict.
“In Gaza, the rules of engagement and fundamental protections owed to civilians have been intentionally, persistently and flagrantly violated,” they said.
“If the Security Council fails to confront this profound breakdown in compliance and accountability, and what it means for humanity and multilateralism, the very foundations of international law risk becoming meaningless."
