Lebanon’s prime minister calls for ceasefire with Israel

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, left, meets with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 01 October 2024
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Lebanon’s prime minister calls for ceasefire with Israel

  • France, the UAE begin relief efforts
  • Hezbollah’s deputy chief vows to keep fighting

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for a ceasefire on Monday in the fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah during a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut.

According to a statement from his office, Mikati said: “The key to the solution is to put an end to the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and to revive the appeal launched by the United States and France … in favor of a ceasefire.”

As Israel deploys troops in preparation for a potential ground incursion into Lebanon, and amid the ongoing displacement in the south, Bekaa and Beirut’s southern suburbs, Barrot held discussions in Beirut with Lebanese officials, politicians, religious leaders, and the army.

In a statement issued by the French Embassy, Barrot affirmed that “in the face of the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, France stands alongside Lebanon and remains committed to protecting civilians, and the security of its citizens.”

Barrot emphasized “France’s support for Lebanon and its people,” adding that “his country is keen on supporting the Lebanese army and helping it during these critical times.”

The plane carrying the French official to Beirut had brought “12 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies in response to emergencies and general medical needs, particularly pediatric care.”

The embassy said that the relief operation was carried out in cooperation with the EU.

During his meeting with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, Barrot focused on the “importance of electing a president as a foundation and priority, while emphasizing the need for stopping the war.”

Walid Ghayyad, the media official at the patriarchate, said that Barrot’s visit was “one of solidarity and reconnaissance, aimed at pushing forward key issues.”

Mikati reiterated during his meeting with Barrot that “the gateway to a solution is stopping the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and returning to the call made by the US and France, with the support of the EU and Arab and foreign countries, for a ceasefire.”

He stressed that “the priority is the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.”

He added: “Once the ceasefire is in effect, we are ready to send the army to the area south of the Litani River to fully carry out its duties in coordination with the international peacekeeping forces in the south.”

Barrot spoke of the “priority of electing a president and working to stop the armed confrontations.”

Barrot announced during his meeting with Health Minister Firass Abiad “the launch of emergency humanitarian aid worth €10 million to support the work of humanitarian organizations on the ground, most notably the Lebanese Red Cross.”

The diplomatic meetings went ahead as the UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan ordered urgent relief aid to the Lebanese people, valued at $100 million, the Emirates News Agency reported.

In the first appearance of a Hezbollah official since the assassination of Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah last Friday, Sheikh Naim Qassem, the group’s deputy secretary-general, said in a televised speech: “We will choose a new secretary-general at the earliest opportunity and we will fill leadership positions.

“The brothers continue their work according to the organized structure, and work with alternative plans for individuals and leaders.

“In Hezbollah’s structure there are deputies for the leaders and backup alternatives ready if a leader in any position is incapacitated.”

Qassem added: “Despite losing several leaders, the attacks on civilians, and the great sacrifices, we will not budge an inch from our positions.

“The Islamic resistance will continue to confront the Israeli enemy in support of Gaza and Palestine and defense of Lebanon and its people.”

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Qassem stressed that “Hezbollah remains committed to its struggle, and we are fully prepared for a ground engagement and to enter this battle, and we will emerge victorious from it.”

His defiant stance came as Israel killed the leader of Hamas in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu Al-Amin, inside the El Buss camp in the city of Tyre.

His wife, Umayya Ibrahim Abdel Hamid, his son Amin and his daughter Wafaa were also killed in the airstrike that targeted his residence.

Hamas said Abu Al-Amin was “a member of the Hamas leadership abroad.”

An attack on Palestinian leaders in Lebanon occurred at dawn when an Israeli drone targeted a residential apartment in the Cola area of central Beirut, which is close to the Palestinian camps in the city.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said that three of its members were killed in the attack, which claimed four lives in total and injured four others, according to the Ministry of Health.

The killing of dozens of civilians has also continued in the face of Israeli airstrikes targeting residential buildings.

Additionally, bombing took place targeting Hezbollah’s supply routes in the high Lebanese mountains, particularly those connecting the Bekaa to other regions. The road to Ainata-Al Ariz was also bombed for the first time.

Five members of the Civil Defense in the Islamic Health Organization, affiliated with Hezbollah, were killed early on Monday in an airstrike targeting their facilities in the town of Sohmor in the Western Bekaa region.

The death toll from an airstrike on a residential building in the town of Ain Al-Dalab, east of the city of Sidon, has risen to 45 with 70 others reported injured, according to the Ministry of Health.

Three people were killed in another raid on Monday on the outskirts of Bnaafoul in the Sidon district.

Further raids on towns in Tyre district resulted in one death and several injuries.

In the Hermel area of the Bekaa two missiles struck residential buildings, resulting in the deaths of 12 people and 20 members of the Hassan Al-Jawhari family receiving injuries.

The Israeli army also carried out a raid on the Syrian Jdeidet Yabous border crossing with Lebanon, targeting a group transporting Hezbollah members across the border, which led to the killing of the group’s transportation official and his driver.

In retaliation, Hezbollah said it bombed the Naoura base with a salvo of Fadi-2 missiles.

 


Israeli strikes batter Lebanon, killing five medics

Updated 2 sec ago
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Israeli strikes batter Lebanon, killing five medics

Israel has pushed on with its intense military campaign against Hezbollah, tempering hopes that efforts by a US envoy could lead to an imminent ceasefire
Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes battered southern Lebanon and the outskirts of the capital Beirut on Friday, killing at least five medics, as ground troops clashed with Hezbollah fighters in the south.
Israel has pushed on with its intense military campaign against the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, tempering hopes that efforts by a US envoy could lead to an imminent ceasefire.
US mediator Amos Hochstein said earlier this week in Beirut that a truce was “within our grasp.” He traveled on to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz before returning to Washington, according to the news outlet Axios.
His trip aimed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern border, which escalated dramatically when Israel ramped up its strikes in late September and sent ground troops into Lebanon on Oct. 1.
Israeli troops have fought Hezbollah in a strip of towns all along the border and this week pushed deeper to the edges of Khiyam, a town some six km (four miles) from the border. Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday.
Lebanese security sources told Reuters that Israeli troops had also advanced in a string of villages to the west as well. They said Israel was most likely trying to isolate Khiyam ahead of a major attack on the town.
Israeli strikes on two other villages in southern Lebanon killed a total of five medics from a rescue force affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The more than 3,500 people killed by Israeli strikes over the last year include more than 200 medics, the health ministry said.
Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from Israel’s north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which began firing across the border in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Israel also mounted more strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a once densely populated stronghold of Hezbollah.
It issued evacuation orders on the social media platform X for several buildings in the area on Friday. Reuters footage showed one of the strikes appearing to pierce the center of a multi-story building, sending the whole structure toppling in a massive cloud of smoke.

UN reports heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in south Lebanon

Updated 10 min 25 sec ago
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UN reports heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in south Lebanon

  • “We are aware of heavy shelling in the vicinity of our bases,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said
  • Asked if the peacekeepers and staff at the headquarters are safe, Tenenti said: “Yes for the moment”

BEIRUT: Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Hezbollah fighters on Friday in different areas in south Lebanon, including a coastal town that is home to the headquarters of UN peacekeepers.
A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL told The Associated Press that they are monitoring “heavy clashes” in the coastal town of Naqoura and the village of Chamaa to the northeast.
UNIFIL’s headquarters are located in Naqoura in Lebanon’s southern edge close to the border with Israel.
“We are aware of heavy shelling in the vicinity of our bases,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said. Asked if the peacekeepers and staff at the headquarters are safe, Tenenti said: “Yes for the moment.”
Several UNIFIL posts have been hit since Israel began its ground invasion of Lebanon on Oct. 1, leaving a number of peacekeepers wounded.
The fighting came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas military leader, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over their 13-month war in Gaza and the October 2023 attack on Israel respectively.
The warrant marked the first time that a sitting leader of a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court of justice.
Israel’s war has caused heavy destruction across Gaza, decimated parts of the territory and driven almost the entire population of 2.3 million people from their homes, leaving most dependent on aid to survive.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel has also launched airstrikes against Lebanon after the Hezbollah militant group began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas’ attack last October. A full-blown war erupted in September after nearly a year of lower-level conflict.


Gaza ministry: hospitals to cut or stop services ‘within 48 hours’ over fuel shortages

Updated 3 min 33 sec ago
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Gaza ministry: hospitals to cut or stop services ‘within 48 hours’ over fuel shortages

  • All hospitals in Gaza would have to stop or reduce services “within 48 hours“

GAZA: The Hamas government’s health ministry warned Friday all hospitals in Gaza would have to stop or reduce services “within 48 hours” for lack of fuel, blaming Israel for blocking its entry.
“We raise an urgent warning as all hospitals in Gaza Strip will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation’s (Israel’s) obstruction of fuel entry,” Marwan Al-Hams, director of Gaza’s field hospitals, said during a press conference.


Israel says to end ‘administrative detention’ for West Bank settlers

Updated 22 November 2024
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Israel says to end ‘administrative detention’ for West Bank settlers

  • Practice allows for detainees to be held for long periods without being charged or appear in court
  • The Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said in August that 3,432 Palestinians were held in administrative detention

JERUSALEM: Israeli authorities will stop holding Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank under administrative detention, or incarceration without trial, the defense ministry announced Friday.
The practice allows for detainees to be held for long periods without being charged or appear in court, and is often used against Palestinians who Israel deems security threats.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said it was “inappropriate” for Israel to employ administrative detention against settlers who “face severe Palestinian terror threats and unjustified international sanctions.”
But, according to settlement watchdog Peace Now, it is one of only few effective tools that Israeli authorities to prevent settler attacks against Palestinians, which have surged in the West Bank over the past year.
Katz said in a statement issued by his office that prosecution or “other preventive measures” would be used to deal with criminal acts in the West Bank.
B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, said authorities use administrative detention “extensively and routinely” to hold thousands of Palestinians for lengthy periods of time.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said in August that 3,432 Palestinians were held in administrative detention.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Friday that eight settlers were held under the same practice in November.
Yonatan Mizrahi, director of settlement watch for Peace Now, said that although administrative detention was mostly used in the West Bank to detain Palestinians, it was one of the few effective tools for temporarily removing the threat of settler violence through detention.
“The cancelation of administrative detention orders for settlers alone is a cynical... move that whitewashes and normalizes escalating Jewish terrorism under the cover of war,” the group said in a statement, referring to a spike in settler attacks throughout the Israel-Hamas conflict over the past 13 months.
Western governments, including Israel’s ally and military backer the United States, have recently imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers and settler organizations over ties to violence against Palestinians.
On Monday, US authorities announced sanctions against Amana, a movement that backs settlement development, and others who have “ties to violent actors in the West Bank.”
“Amana is a key part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement and maintains ties to various persons previously sanctioned by the US government and its partners for perpetrating violence in the West Bank,” the US Treasury said.
Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank — which Israel has occupied since 1967 — is home to three million Palestinians as well as about 490,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law.


UK would arrest Netanyahu over ICC warrant: Senior politician 

Updated 22 November 2024
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UK would arrest Netanyahu over ICC warrant: Senior politician 

  • Emily Thornberry: Britain has ‘obligation under Rome Convention’ to arrest Israeli PM if he enters country 
  • Court: ‘Reasonable grounds to believe’ Netanyahu responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity in Gaza

LONDON: The UK will arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he enters the country, a senior British politician has said.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on Thursday for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, alongside his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, pertaining to the Gaza war.

Emily Thornberry — Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, and former shadow foreign secretary and shadow attorney general — told Sky News: “If Netanyahu comes to Britain, our obligation under the Rome Convention would be to arrest him under the warrant from the ICC.

“(It is) not really a question of should — we are required to, because we are members of the ICC.”

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has refused to be drawn on whether Netanyahu would be arrested if he set foot on British soil, saying it “wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment.”

She told Sky: “We’ve always respected the importance of international law, but in the majority of the cases that they pursue, they don’t become part of the British legal process.

“What I can say is that obviously, the UK government’s position remains that we believe the focus should be on getting a ceasefire in Gaza.”

Netanyahu’s arrest warrant is the first to be issued against the premier of a major Western ally by an international court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

His office denounced the warrant as “anti-Semitic,” adding that Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions.” Israel is not an ICC member and rejects the court’s jurisdiction.

US President Joe Biden called the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant “outrageous,” adding: “Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he plans to invite Netanyahu to visit Budapest, adding that the arrest warrant will “not be observed” by his government.

The Italian and French governments, however, have indicated that Netanyahu will be arrested if he visits either country.

The ICC said on Thursday it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”

The court also issued a warrant for Hamas commander Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Israel says Al-Masri, believed to have been the mastermind behind the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, was killed in Gaza earlier this year.

The ICC said it issued the warrant for his arrest because of insufficient evidence to prove his death.