Israeli Guns Displace 200,000 in Lebanon

Over 200,000 were displaced inside Lebanon because of Israeli airstrikes, the UN high commissioner for refugees said on Saturday.

“More than 50,000 Lebanese and Syrians living in Lebanon have now crossed into Syria fleeing Israeli airstrikes,” Filippo Grandi wrote on X.

“Relief operations are underway, including by UNHCR, to help all those in need, in coordination with both governments,” he added.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 41,600 victims, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7 according to the Anadolu news agency.

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Beirut Under Israeli Attacks

Israeli warplanes have launched what is described as massive airstrikes on Lebanon’s capital Beirut, Saturday night according to the Quds News Network.

Meanwhile the Israeli army on Saturday claimed killing Hezbollah’s top intelligence commander in an airstrike in the southern suburb of Beirut. In a statement, the army said its air force targeted Hassan Khalil Yassin, who was responsible for Hezbollah’s intelligence unit according to Anadolu.

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Oman Mufti on Nasrallah Assassination

The Grand Mufti of Oman, Sheikh Ahmed al-Khalili:

“We are very saddened by the assassination of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, who has been a significant thorn in the side of the Zionist project for over three decades.

We ask God to strengthen the resistance movements in Lebanon, Palestine, and all Muslim countries. We hope that Muslims will unite on common ground and put aside what divides them.”

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Missiles, Sirens and Underground Shelters

CROSSFIREARABIA – Despite their heinous war on Lebanon, Israelis today are gripped with fear and psychological problems in a cyclone of fear dominated by incoming missiles, drones and blasting sirens all over northern and central Israel.

The Israeli psyche is particularly acute these days because of the insistence of Prime Minister’s Netanyahu extension of the Gaza war to Lebanon.

Saturday was particularly eerie for the Israelis because of the never-ending sirens that started in Tel Aviv in the afternoon warning of an incoming ballistic missile all the way from Yemen.

Although the Israeli media told us the missile – appropriately named Palestine 2 – was shot down by Israel’s Iron dome, no doubt bringing down with it lots of shrapnel, it created much panic among ordinary Israelis.

The social media video clips showed it all. People dropped whatever they were doing and hurried down to the underground shelters with the blasting sirens ready to give anyone a heart attack.  

The video clips showed a city in different positions. First of all, it was empty, hardly any traffic on the roads, you can say a ghost town, just tall buildings with risk noise in the background.

Then there is a video clip of people on road pavements amidst cars, hurrying, running and then steadying their pace to beat the others to get to the underground shelters. But there is a sense of anxiousness to get to the door of the shelter whether they have to go steadily down.

On this occasion, there was no news of injuries, but on previous rocket attack sirens in the city, there were reports of injuries, people trampled upon to reach the shelters in what appeared as tight doors.

And then there was the Ben Gurion Airport on the outskirts of the city. People were taking no chances this time. Just the previous day sirens blasted all over the city warning of a missile attack from the Houthis of Yemen, all 2000-kilometers away.

Just like this one, the previous missile struck just six kilometers from the Ben Gurion Airport. In the latest video-clip, people were seen running towards the end of the wide corridor at the sound of “horrible” noise with a man on the loudspeaker in Hebrew, no doubt telling people to hurry down to the shelters.

For Israelis, this war, although on the periphery of their lives, has become an absolute nightmare!

Outside, there was more noise coming from the beach filled with swimmers and sunbathers. At the sound of the sirens they dropped everything and began scurrying to the nearest shelter.

Meanwhile, there was another video clip of the plane carrying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after making his speech to the almost-empty UN General Assembly, because of the mass walkout.

Just as he entered Israeli airspace an F-35 phantom appeared to escort the plane to the airport. This was due to two reasons, the killing of Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, the previous day and which he ordered and the fact that incoming missiles and drones were coming in from Lebanon in a deadly war he insists on continuing.    

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Nasrallah killed in ‘mad’ 85 Ton Bombs on Beirut  

Hassan Nasrallah and his colleagues were killed Friday evening, after 85 bunker-busting bombs, each weighing a ton of explosives, dropped on the southern districts of Beirut.

Hezbollah officials confirmed the killing of its Secretary-General in the raids that targeted the party’s central command headquarters.

A party statement said, “His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hezbollah, joined his great and immortal martyred comrades, whose path he led for nearly 30 years.”

His name and murder soon started to trend on the social media former Lebanese Prime Minister and leader of the “Future” Movement Saad Hariri saying the assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is a cowardly act condemned in its entirety by us, and it has led Lebanon and the region into a new phase of violence.

In its statement Hezbollah honored Nasrallah as a brave, wise, and courageous martyr, recognizing his lifelong dedication to the resistance movement.

Over the past three decades Nasrallah’s leadership was unique represented by his role in Hezbollah’s victories, from the liberation of Lebanon in 2000 to the 2006 war with Israel with the party praizing his unwavering support for Palestine and Gaza.

He led the resistance since 1992 building on the legacy of Sayyid Abbas al-Musawi the previous secretary-general and who was also assassinated by Israel on 16 February of that year.

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‘When Do We Get to Bury Our Dead?’

By Shireen Al Akka

Amid the scenes of widespread destruction caused by the Israeli extermination war, there is a deep wound in the heart of Gazans who passe by destroyed houses, and still feel the souls that made their last breaths from under the rubble, and did not find anyone to rescue them alive or even honor them with burial.

These are souls that were not given a farewell and whose names were not mentioned in the records of martyrs. No one knows about their attempts to cling to life, and how much they tried to call for help before their final breaths were quashed by the dust and stones.

Since November 2023, my young brother Tamer Al-Akka has been trapped under tons of rubble, along with his wife Hind Hassouna and their children Tala (8), Zainab (6), and Khalil (3), as well as 18 others from his wife’s family.

My 60-year-old father, Khalil Al-Akka, searched for them with both hands for three consecutive days before he was forced to flee south. He was unable to dig them up due to the lack of fuel and the occupation’s prevention of rescue operations.

He repeatedly appealed to Civil Defense to bring in equipment to remove the rubble and rescue the survivors whose cries for help could be heard, but to no avail. Meanwhile, giant trucks were brought in from the Israeli side to transport tons of rubble mixed with the blood of martyrs to the Gaza beach, to build a sea pier said for bringing in humanitarian aid to the Strip.

Their presence under the rubble overwhelmed us.

My father wanted to honor his son and grandchildren with a burial. Perhaps the tombstone would have read “Martyrdom at the age of roses”, while my mother wanted to embrace his strong, healthy body to make sure that he had passed away, but she did not have the chance to see him and could not believe that she had lost him forever with her daughter-in-law and grandchildren.

None of us believed the news of his passing, and we were satisfied with saying that “my brother is under the rubble”. We procrastinated a lot until we mourned him, and we kept betting on his release. Perhaps because his personality was characterized by stubbornness and always searching for a way out and solutions!

In a phone call with my brother, Moamen, who lives abroad, he told me: “I do not accept condolences… perhaps he was able to save himself and will contact us soon”. At that time, I was silent for a long time and adopted his opinion that we are all waiting!

A comforting friend told me that “it is better for him -my brother – to remain under the rubble, because the bodies of the martyrs scattered in the streets are being devoured by dogs”. I was upset by her expression, but these tragic scenes were actually published by the media. I felt a kind of relief about their fate.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor documented, in early January, the occupation army’s attacks on at least 12 cemeteries in the Gaza Strip, deliberately vandalizing them and stealing dozens of bodies. The Observatory’s field team inspected the (Al-Batsh) cemetery east of Gaza – established in October 2023 to bury dozens of unidentified martyrs after they were crowded into Al-Shifa Hospital – and their exposure to bulldozing and military vehicles trampling on the bodies. “Israel” does not stop at killing people, but goes so far as to deprive their families of even visiting their graves.

This act was repeated from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza to Rafah in the south, and one father expressed his concern on his Facebook page for his child buried in a cemetery in Rafah, after he was forced to flee it. People still fear for the fate of their children, whether they are dead or alive.

At the time, I felt my brother might have been luckier than the others, and it seemed these feelings were nothing more than a temporary anesthetic, before the volcano ignited inside me again, and I wondered: “What are their bodies like now? Have they turned into bones? How will we recognize them? Well, my family cannot mistake their son. We will recognize him by looking at his teeth! When he was 15 years old, he lost one of his front teeth and had another artificial one installed, but what about his wife and children? How will we recognize them? Especially since the house was full of displaced women and children?”

No one knows how many martyrs remained under the rubble, but a report by the British organization “Save the Children” indicates that about 21,000 children in Gaza were lost as a result of the war. They were either trapped under the rubble, detained in occupation prisons, buried in unknown graves, or lost to their families.

Thus, after eight months, I was once again curious to know the number and names of the people who were with my brother. My sister Shaimaa, who is now living its the seventh displacement in Deir al-Balah and is taking shelter with her two children, Mira and Abdullah, in a palm frond roofed hut with no walls, spoke to me.

She was surprised by my question and answered me with a more bizarre and deadly question: “Why are you asking? Did you find him? Did you find Tamer alive?” My body trembled. I couldn’t find anything to say to her, but I adopted her question, and it has now become my obsession. A decent burial is one of the most basic human rights.

The family of the deceased does not give up this right even in the darkest and most difficult times. The 70-year-old woman, Laila al-Qulaq, who is my relative on my father’s side, did not give up burying her son, Mohammed (35 years old), a person with disabilities. When the Israeli occupation “army” penetrated Tel al-Hawa in Gaza and ordered the residents to flee, while she was busy with her other children, Mohammed caught her off guard by looking out the window and was immediately sniped.

The “fighter” – that’s what those who knew her called her, because she was widowed at a young age and raised 7 orphans, 4 of whom were disabled, whom she took care of alone, watching them from behind the sewing machine that stitched together me the most beautiful dresses of my childhood – wanted to bury her son’s body, but the occupation “army” forced her to leave.

Burial with honor

The next morning, Laila Al-Qulaq returned with her stubbornness that made her forget her fear. She insisted on removing her son’s body from the house and burying him with honor. Laila also lost her sick little granddaughter who passed away due to lack of treatment. I don’t know where she is now because of the incessant displacements, her situation is like that of two million people in Gaza struggling for survival or immortality.

The Israeli aggression on Khan Yunis has been ongoing for more than two months. With the frequent news of the genocide, the number of martyrs, and my pursuit of my family who are living in perdition in displacement, I forgot to check on my childhood friend Fidaa Ayyad, who is also displaced to Khan Yunis, until she called me recently, and her voice was very weak, “I am not well.”

I felt terrified and prepared myself for something great that I did not imagine would be this heavy, “Badr is gone, Shireen, Badr Badr,” and her voice disappeared. I lost contact with Fidaa.

Badr (14 years old) was his mother’s right hand in completing the tent work. He makes the bed, cleans the dishes, and collects firewood to light the fire in the oven. That day, he left his mother alone to bake loaves of bread. She turned around to look for him, thinking that he had gone away to play with his peers, especially since he insisted that day on taking an early shower and wearing his older brother’s shirt.

Badr moved away from the hard work next to the oven in the hottest month of the year… July! He went to the corner of the street. His father saw him and asked him to accompany him on a quick walk, but he also hesitated to accompany him. He stayed in his place on the corner of Al-Attar Street and was soon bombed, killing more than 28 martyrs and twice that number of wounded. His mother got up immediately and left the loaves of bread burning behind her. She went to look for Badr specifically, without his four brothers.

I learned these details later after many attempts to contact her. I hesitated a lot before asking her the question that had become my obsession: “Did you get to say goodbye to him? Did he get a grave?” She quickly answered me: “Yes, they brought him to me and I said goodbye to him, and yes, we buried him. My son has a grave and we buried him in Khan Younis, next to many martyrs.” She continued: “He who is not buried will be lost!” I felt the sting of her words, but I cannot blame her. We were silent, then she added anxiously: “When we go to Gaza, will we leave him here?” I stopped at that moment and I had been pacing the room back and forth throughout the call. I stopped and asked her to explain: “What do you mean?”

Shireen Al-Akka is a writer from Gaza and this article was originally printed from Arabic in the Al Mayadeen website.

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Josep Borrell: ‘…No Force Can Stop Netanyahu…’

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Friday, lamented no force, including that of the United States, can stop Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his war on Gaza and Lebanon.

“What we are doing is putting all the diplomatic pressure to stop the fire, but no one seems to have the power to stop Netanyahu, neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank,” Borrell told reporters while attending the UN General Assembly.

Borrell backed a French and US initiative for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon that Israel has ignored as it intensifies its strikes on Hezbollah targets.

Borrell said Netanyahu had been clear that the Israelis would not stop until Hezbollah was destroyed, just as they have been in the nearly year-long war in Gaza against Hamas.

“If the interpretation of destruction is the same as what happened with Hamas, then we are going to a long war,” Borrell added.

US failure

The outgoing EU foreign policy chief again called for diversifying diplomatic efforts away from the United States, which has unsuccessfully tried to reach a truce in Gaza that would include the release of detainees.

He added that the United States cannot be relied upon alone to reach a ceasefire, as it has tried several times and failed to do so.

“I do not see that it is ready to start a new negotiation process that could lead to another Camp David,” he said, referring to the talks held at the US presidential resort in 2000, in which former President Bill Clinton unsuccessfully sought to broker a historic agreement to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Netanyahu pledged in a speech to the United Nations on Friday to achieve Israel’s goals against Hezbollah, which began launching attacks on Israel following Hamas’s attack on October 7.

Since Monday, the Israeli army has launched the most violent and extensive attack on Lebanon since the beginning of the confrontations with Hezbollah about a year ago, killing 726 people and wounding 2,173 others, while its war on Gaza has continued since October 7, leaving more than 137,000 Palestinians dead and wounded.

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Gaza Farms: ‘The Way We Were But No More’

Israel has destroyed hundreds of dunams of agricultural land, depriving Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip of agricultural land and resources vital to survival, all in support of its illegal blockade of the Strip and tight restrictions on the entry of food supplies for almost a full year. This is an expression of Israel’s insistence on committing genocide against Palestinians in the enclave.

This destruction is part of a larger Israeli plan that dates back to last October. Under this plan, Israeli forces have worked to eliminate almost 80% of the agricultural land in the Gaza Strip from use by Palestinians. Israel has done this either by isolating it in preparation for its forcible annexation to the so-called “buffer zone” or by bulldozing or destroying it by other means, such as bombardment—all of which are in violation of international law.

According to the Euro-Med Monitor field team, Israeli forces stormed the area of Al-Shimaa in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, early on Tuesday morning, 25 September 2024. Accompanied by military bulldozers, the forces began their bulldozing operations, destroying more than 500 dunums of newly-replanted agricultural land, which was supposed to sustain the needs of the people living in northern Gaza, who are subject to an arbitrary siege and systematic starvation by Israel.

The Israeli destruction of these agricultural lands, the majority of which were filled with eggplants, reflects Israel’s insistence on preventing the Palestinian people from depending on the region’s agricultural food basket during a period when sufficient supplies of vegetables and other foods are being kept out of the northern Gaza Strip. This has led to a severe famine, to the point where a significant portion of the people in the north have been forced to eat tree leaves and bake ground-up animal feed instead of flour.

Twenty-four-year-old farmer Yousef Saqr Abu Rabie of Beit Lahia told Euro-Med Monitor about the significant losses he incurred on Monday and Tuesday, 23-24 September, as a result of the bulldozing of dozens of dunams north of the town. Abu Rabie stated that although his land is outside of the “security zone” established by Israel at the start of the war, the bulldozing operations still occurred, and that the now-bulldozed crops had been bearing fruit that the people of northern Gaza were depending on given Israel’s restrictions on the entry of fruits and vegetables into the northern Gazan markets.

As part of its crime of genocide, ongoing since 7 October 2023, Israel has worked over the past year to systematically and extensively destroy the Gaza Strip’s food basket of fruits, vegetables, and meat, along with all other components of local food production, in addition to blocking the entry of food and humanitarian aid. This has resulted in famine in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces have bulldozed or otherwise destroyed all agricultural lands along the “security fence” separating the eastern and northern Gaza Strip at a depth of nearly two kilometres, removing approximately 96 square kilometres in a clear attempt to annex them to its “buffer zone”, in violation of international law. An Israeli “buffer” road and zone splitting Gaza City through its centre, meanwhile, and the creation of Israel’s Netzarim axis to keep sections of the Strip separate, have resulted in the destruction of approximately three square kilometres of agricultural lands. Thus, the agricultural lands destroyed by Israel to enable the creation of its “buffer” areas, specifically, represent about 27.5% of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli occupation army has worked to destroy almost all buildings and facilities on the vast majority of these lands, which are now within the “buffer zone” and are off-limits to residents and farmers. These lands represented the majority of agricultural land in the Gaza Strip and included hundreds of farms built on hundreds of dunams that were planted with vegetables and fruits, as well as hundreds of farms raising poultry and livestock.

Outside of this “buffer zone”, additional land has been destroyed by Israeli incursions or aerial and artillery bombardment, resulting in the destruction of at least 34 square kilometres of agricultural land and the streets that service it. This brings the total percentage of destroyed land in the Gaza Strip to 36.9%, or more than 75% of the Strip’s area designated for agriculture.

Of the very few remaining areas set aside for agriculture, the majority are in the region of Al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip, west of Khan Yunis, which is now home to hundreds of thousands of people who have been forcibly displaced.

In addition to Israel’s destruction of thousands of farms, greenhouses, water wells, tanks, and stores housing agricultural equipment, Euro-Med Monitor field teams recorded the intentional killing of numerous farmers while these individuals were working or attempting to access their lands. Since the start of the genocide, the Israeli army has also killed several fishermen and destroyed the majority of fishing boats and fishing ports in the Gaza Strip. These actions have negatively impacted the availability of healthy food for over 2.2 million Palestinians living in the Strip, and the repercussions of this are expected to last for years after the withdrawal of the Israeli military.

Farmers are finding it difficult or impossible to access areas that have been spared from the Israeli bombing, due to the ongoing bombardment and ground incursions into numerous areas. Additionally, the lack of electricity, destruction of water wells, and scarcity of fuel all make it difficult to cultivate new areas and irrigate them with water. This occurs while aid supplies are being blocked from reaching residents and displaced people in the Strip by Israeli army forces.

The ongoing Israeli military assaults have detrimental effects on soil, air, water quality, agricultural land, public health, and the environment. These effects compound over time, and at some point, may result in startling increases in the death rate.

The internationally recognised human right to food, water, and sanitation is a basic right that protects population health and dignity. It can only be realised if the international community puts an end to Israel’s crime of genocide; removes the illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip; and salvages what remains of the besieged enclave, which is currently uninhabitable on all fronts. Delays will cause the Strip to deteriorate further, cost more civilian lives, and heavily affect people’s health outcomes.

The international community must act swiftly and forcefully to end to Israel’s crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip, which involves both the direct killing of, and the imposition of unbearable living conditions on, the Palestinian people there. Israel is attempting to rob Palestinians of all hope of survival by turning the Strip into a place without any of the basic necessities of life.

The international community should make sure that humanitarian aid—particularly the basic food and non-food supplies required to respond to the humanitarian crisis safely and effectively—reaches the Gaza Strip swiftly, particularly the northern part of the Strip.

In order to save the civilian population in the Gaza Strip from the threat of further health disasters, pressure must also be applied to Israel to permit the entry of materials required for infrastructure rehabilitation and repair. This includes ensuring that there is enough fuel entering the Occupied Palestinian Territory to run desalination plants and wells, among other water and sanitation facilities.

EuroMed Human Rights Monitor

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Israel Kills 50 Children in Two Days in Lebanon

The average number of children killed per day in Lebanon this week is more than double the number of children killed per day during the country’s devastating 2006 conflict.

An estimated 400 children, or about 12 children per day, were killed during the 33-day 2006 conflict[1]. Now, 50 children were killed in a span of two days, on Monday and Tuesday of this week according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. The ministry also expects that more children remain buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings across the country.

The escalation in recent days has killed and injured thousands, spurred mass displacement, caused extensive damage to infrastructure and instilled an unimaginable fear in the daily lives of people across the country.

“As this week continues the devastation mounts, piling tragedy upon tragedy,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Lebanon. “The attacks on Lebanon are killing and injuring children at a frightening rate and devastating any sense of safety and security for hundreds of thousands of children across the country.”

The conflict comes on top of the already fragile situation for tens of thousands of families in Lebanon. The country has been impacted by a string of unrelenting crises in recent years, including the massive Port of Beirut explosion, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fifth year of a crippling economic collapse that has sent poverty rates soaring.

November 2023 survey conducted by UNICEF in Lebanon found more than 8 in 10 households had to borrow money or buy on credit to purchase essential grocery items, a 16 percentage point increase over six months. The same survey found that in the South Governorate, 46 per cent of households said their children were anxious and 29 per cent were depressed.

In the last 72 hours alone hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have been displaced to host communities and over 70,000 people to shelters, according to the Lebanon Disaster Risk Management Unit. Before the intense military operations of this week, more than 111,000 people, including more than 39,000 children, had already been displaced from villages and towns in the south of Lebanon. It is most likely that they are being displaced for a second time now.

Amid the extensive damage to civilian infrastructure this week, water pumping stations constructed or rehabilitated by UNICEF in the Bekaa and South Governorates have been damaged, leaving 30,000 people with no access to clean drinking water.

In response to the rapidly deteriorating situation, UNICEF in collaboration with the government of Lebanon, has provided essential supplies to shelters, including thousands of bottles of clean drinking water, hygiene kits, education and recreation supplies for children, blankets and sleeping bags, personal hygiene items for women and girls, and nutrition supplies including supplements and baby food. UNICEF is also providing psychosocial support, including child protection services, education, and recreational activities at many shelters.

UNICEF has urgently initiated critical repairs on damaged water and sanitation facilities, dispatched 20 mobile health units to provide life-saving medical care and immunizations, and delivered 100 tons of emergency medical supplies to hospitals facing severe shortages and stock-outs.A further 25 tons of emergency supplies are due to arrive in Lebanon in the coming days and 53 tons are under procurement.

“The situation in Lebanon, already teetering on the brink, has moved from crisis to catastrophe. The suffering of children must stop,” Beigbeder continued. “The only way to do this is through an immediate de-escalation. A full-scale conflict would have a devastating impact on the country’s 1.3 million children.”

UNICEF urgently calls for all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of civilian objects and civilians, including children, humanitarian workers and medical personnel. This includes facilitating the safe movement of civilians seeking safety.

UNICEF remains committed to responding to the increasing needs. UNICEF requires $US39 million to implement its 2024 conflict response plan but has only received $US7.6 million to date. More funds are urgently needed to support the children of Lebanon during this dramatic escalation.

Reliefweb

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