GAZA: An UNRWA employee was killed in a strike on a vehicle in Gaza Wednesday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said, the latest aid worker death in the war-torn territory.
“I can confirm that an UNRWA car was hit. One UNRWA colleague was killed,” UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma told AFP.
An AFP photographer said the strike in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis early on Wednesday killed two people in all.
At least 223 UNRWA staff have been killed and two-thirds of the agency’s facilities in Gaza damaged or destroyed since the war erupted early last year, its head, Philippe Lazzarini, said last month.
Many Gazans displaced by the fighting have sought shelter in UNRWA facilities including schools. Israel has conducted strikes on several of these schools-turned-shelter, accusing Hamas of using them as command centers — a charge denied by the Palestinian militant group.
Wednesday’s strike came as Israel moves to curb UNRWA’s activities, with the foreign affairs and defense committee of Israel’s parliament approving two bills earlier this month essentially aimed at ending the agency’s activity and privileges in Israel.
One bill seeks to prevent UNRWA from operating any institution or providing any services or activity in Israel. The second bill says that UNRWA workers will not enjoy the immunity or special rights enjoyed by other UN workers in Israel.
UNRWA and the wider humanitarian response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza have been a bone of contention in the conflict, with Israeli authorities accused of restricting aid flows.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 42,792 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the UN considers reliable.
The agency saw funding cuts earlier this year after Israel accused a dozen of its 13,000 Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7 attack by Hamas.
An internal probe published in August found that nine employees “may have been involved in the armed attacks of 7 October.”
UNRWA was created in 1949 to support Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.
UN aid worker killed in Gaza strike
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UN aid worker killed in Gaza strike
- At least 223 UNRWA staff have been killed and two-thirds of the agency’s facilities in Gaza damaged or destroyed since the war erupted early last year
- UNRWA and the wider humanitarian response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza have been a bone of contention in the conflict
Western diplomat says foreign forces an option in Lebanon after truce
“Partners of Lebanon have already been supporting the Lebanese army and are looking very concretely into how they can support it further”
BEIRUT: Western countries have floated the idea of deploying international forces to Lebanon alongside the country’s army in case of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, a Western diplomat said Wednesday.
Some 10,000 peacekeepers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are already deployed in the country’s south, but the diplomat said a separate multi-national troop deployment was under consideration.
“What is needed right now is a ceasefire and a presence trusted by both sides — this could be the Lebanese army with international forces,” the diplomat told AFP, requesting anonymity as the matter is sensitive.
“Partners of Lebanon have already been supporting the Lebanese army and are looking very concretely into how they can support it further... in the context of a ceasefire and long-term diplomatic agreement,” the diplomat added.
After nearly a year of war with Hamas in Gaza, Israel shifted its focus to Lebanon last month, vowing to secure its northern border under fire from Hezbollah, ramping up air strikes on the group’s strongholds and sending in ground troops.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and called for the deployment of only Lebanese government forces UNIFIL peacekeepers in south Lebanon, has come under fire for its limited implementation.
Lebanese media outlets have reported discussions on bolstering the UN resolution’s implementation, dubbing such an option as “1701-plus.”
On a visit to Beirut on Monday, US envoy Amos Hochstein said that “both sides simply committing to 1701 is just not enough.”
“We have to put things in place that would allow for confidence that it will be implemented for everyone,” he added.
The Western diplomat told AFP that “the push toward a 1701-plus is a reflection of the reality that neither side implemented” the resolution.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said this month that Lebanon was ready to bolster the army in the south after any ceasefire was reached.
UNIFIL, set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon, has accused Israel’s military of “repeatedly” and “deliberately” firing on its positions in recent weeks.
Hezbollah, founded after Israel invaded and besieged Beirut in 1982, is the only group that refused to give up its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, doing so in the name of “resistance” against Israel.
A UN-mandated multinational force including contingents from the United States and France deployed in Lebanon after the 1982 invasion, but the mission was targeted by two deadly attacks that killed almost 300 personnel.
Western countries have floated the idea of deploying international forces to Lebanon alongside the country’s army in case of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, a Western diplomat said Wednesday. (AFP/File)
Iran strike will show your force, Israel’s defense chief tells pilots
- Israel has been planning a response to a ballistic-missile barrage carried out by Iran on Oct. 1, Tehran’s second direct attack on Israel in six months
- “After we attack in Iran, they will understand in Israel and elsewhere what your preparations have included,” Gallant said
JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Air Force crews on Wednesday that after striking in Iran, the world will understand Israel’s might and its enemies will learn a lesson, according to a video and an X post published by his office.
Israel has been planning a response to a ballistic-missile barrage carried out by Iran on Oct. 1, Tehran’s second direct attack on Israel in six months.
“After we attack in Iran, they will understand in Israel and elsewhere what your preparations have included,” Gallant told the crews in the video, which his office said was filmed at Hatzerim Air Base.
On X, Gallant added: “In my conversation with them I emphasized — after we attack Iran, everyone will understand your might, the process of preparation and training — any enemy that tries to harm the State of Israel will pay a heavy price.”
The Middle East has been on edge in anticipation of the Israeli retaliation for Iran’s attack in which around 200 ballistic missiles were fired at Israel.
In the past few weeks Israel has intensified its offensive against Palestinian militants Hamas in Gaza and its Iran-backed ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. The war was triggered a year ago by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.
Washington is seeking to head off further widening of the conflict. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Israel’s retaliation should not lead to greater escalation.
Germany’s Baerbock says arms exports to Israel pose ‘dilemma’ amid risks to international law
- She made no indication that Germany was reconsidering its longtime policy of supplying arms to Israel
- Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week said Germany, one of Israel’s staunchest Western allies, would continue to provide such military aid
BEIRUT/BERLIN: Germany’s foreign minister said on Wednesday Israel has the right to defend itself against Hezbollah attacks but supplying it with weapons had posed “a dilemma” amid concerns over international law violations.
Annalena Baerbock spoke after arriving in Lebanon for talks on how to defuse escalating Israel-Hezbollah hostilities, five days after the UN said its peacekeepers had been Targeted by Israeli forces in south Lebanon’s conflict zone.
“On the one hand, Israel is attacked every day and not supporting it would mean that people are not (being) protected ... On the other, it is also Germany’s responsibility to stand up for international humanitarian law,” Baerbock said.
She made no indication that Germany was reconsidering its longtime policy of supplying arms to Israel. Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week said Germany, one of Israel’s staunchest Western allies, would continue to provide such military aid.
Baerbock said Israel had the right to defend itself against Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah but also a responsibility to ensure it adheres to international humanitarian law.
Baerbock spoke to journalists in Beirut after meeting Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah who has been engaging in diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
The UN mission in Lebanon said last week its outposts near Lebanon’s border with Israel had come under several “deliberate” Israeli attacks and that efforts to help civilians in villages in the war zone were being hampered by Israeli shelling.
“Any deliberate attack on UN peacekeepers violates humanitarian law,” said Baerbock.
Israel says UN forces in south Lebanon have effectively provided a human shield for Hezbollah fighters and has told UNIFIL to evacuate peacekeepers for their own safety — a request that it has refused.
Baerbock said the key to achieving peace is the full implementation of the 18-year-old UN Resolution 1701, which entails a Hezbollah withdrawal behind Lebanon’s Litani River and Israeli forces back from the “Blue Line” demarcating the border.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has a crucial role in maintaining stability in the region, and all parties involved must protect UNIFIL soldiers, she added.
Baerbock was set to have a video conference with UNIFIL Commanding General Aroldo Lazaro Saenz later in the afternoon.
“Our common message to the people of Lebanon is that we will not look away, we will not leave them alone,” Baerbock said.
“We are working on a diplomatic solution that respects the security interests of both Israel and Lebanon,” she added.
Germany’s DPA news agency said Berlin approved arms exports to Israel worth around 31 million euros ($34 million) over the past eight weeks, more than twice as much as in the first 7-1/2 months of this year.
Turkiye says some dead, injured after attack at state aviation site
- “A terrorist attack was carried out against the TUSAS facilities in Kahramankazan, Ankara. Unfortunately, we have martyrs and injured people,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said
ANKARA: Turkiye said on Wednesday that a deadly attack was carried out at the headquarters of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) near Ankara, while media reported a loud explosion at the site and showed footage of an exchange of gunfire there.
“A terrorist attack was carried out against the TUSAS facilities in Kahramankazan, Ankara. Unfortunately, we have martyrs and injured people,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social media X.
The cause of the explosion and the subsequent gunfire remained unclear, with some media reports claiming a suicide attack had occurred. Emergency services were dispatched to the site, state-owned Anadolu Agency reported.
Television images showed a damaged gate and a nearby clash in a parking lot.
TUSAS is one of Turkiye’s most important defense and aviation companies. It produces KAAN, the country’s first national combat aircraft, among other projects.
US has not seen evidence of Hezbollah cash bunker under Beirut hospital, Pentagon chief says
- “We will continue to collaborate with our Israeli counterparts to gain better fidelity on exactly what they are looking at,” Austin told reporters in Rome
- Fadi Alameh, a Lebanese lawmaker and the director of Al-Sahel hospital has told Reuters that Israel was making false and slanderous claims
ROME: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday that he had not seen evidence that there was a Hezbollah bunker filled with cash built under a hospital in Beirut, adding that Washington would continue to work with Israel to get better insights.
Israel’s military said that Hezbollah has stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in a bunker built under a hospital in Beirut, adding that it would not strike the facility as it keeps up attacks against the group’s financial assets.
“We have not seen evidence of that at this moment. But, you know, we will continue to collaborate with our Israeli counterparts to gain better fidelity on exactly what they are looking at,” Austin told reporters in Rome.
Fadi Alameh, a Lebanese lawmaker with the Shiite Amal Movement party and the director of the hospital in question, Al-Sahel, has told Reuters that Israel was making false and slanderous claims and called on the Lebanese Army to visit and show it had only operating rooms, patients and a morgue.
In a televised statement on Monday, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel last month, had built the bunker which was designed for lengthy stays.
