Middle East: Israeli airstrikes kill scores in Lebanon

The current US administration plans to keep working on a diplomatic solution to the war in the Middle East for the remainder of Joe Biden’s term as president, both the White House and the State Department said. 

"We will continue to pursue an end to the war in Gaza, an end to the war in Lebanon, a surge of humanitarian assistance [to Gaza], and that is our duty to pursue those policies right up until noon on January 20 when the president-elect takes office," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

As part of his campaign, Trump had suggested he will give Israelmore freedom in its war in Gaza, while simultaneously attacking the Biden administration's stance on the conflict. The Democratic president has in turn come under fire from the left of his party for not further reining in US ally Israel.

Secretary of State Blinken, who made 11 trips to the Middle East since Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent Israeli war on Gaza, has been pushing for a cease-fire deal that would also include the release of the hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups. 

Francesaid it will summon the Israeliambassador in Paris in the coming days over the brief arrest of two French officials in east Jerusalem.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot was due to visit the compound of the French-owned Church of the Pater Noster, located on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives, when Israeli police detained the two gendarmes, despite them having diplomatic status, the ministry said. The meeting was canceled as a result of the incident. 

Barrot told journalists that Israel's action was "unacceptable," adding that he refused to enter the site in protest over Israeli police presence.

The ministry said Paris condemned the incident "all the more vigorously as it comes at a time when it [France] is doing its utmost to work toward de-escalating the violence in the region."

France claims the sanctuary on the Mount of Olives as its territory under international treaties.

Lebanon’s army said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the southern city of Sidon killed three people and wounded three troops and five Malaysian UN peacekeepers.

All of those killed were passengers in the targeted vehicle, the army said, which was struck near a checkpoint. The troops injured were manning the checkpoint.

The UNIFIL peacekeeping force said a "convoy bringing newly-arrived peacekeepers to south Lebanon was passing Sidon when a drone strike occurred nearby." It added that five peacekeepers were "lightly injured," and that they will continue in their posts.

The city of Sidon has been relatively spared the deadly airstrikes targeting Lebanon’s south as part of Israel’s war against Iran-backed movement Hezbollah. 

Israel’s military called for the evacuation of several areas in northern Gaza, saying that Palestinian militants were launching rockets from there.

The latest call follows a series of evacuation orders for large parts of the Gaza Strip’s northern regions, where Israeli forces have intensified their operation since early October, cutting off aid and displacing tens of thousands of people. The UN has warned that the entire population of north Gaza is now at risk of dying.

In a post on X, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the area in question “is considered a dangerous combat zone,” and that the people in the area need to move toward the Strip’s south for their own safety.

On Tuesday, IDF Brig Gen Itzik Cohen told Israeli reporters that there was no intention of allowing residents of north Gaza to return to their homes. The IDF later stated that these comments were inaccurate and taken out of context.

Palestinian officials say Israel is carrying out a plan of "ethnic cleansing." Some observers believe Israel is implementing a "surrender or starve" strategy to forcibly displace northern residents and seal off northern Gaza, which Israel denies.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that now was an opportune time for a potential end to the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon following the election of Donald Trump as US president.

"I believe a window has opened for putting an end to the tragedy in which Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region have been immersed since October 7" last year, Barrot told reporters in Jerusalem.

Barrot was speaking alongside outgoing Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and referenced Trump’s "wish to see the end of the Middle East's endless wars."

Barrot said he was hopeful that a diplomatic solution would present itself "in the coming weeks."

"It is time to move towards a deal that would allow for the liberation of all hostages, a cease-fire and the mass entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to prepare for the day after," Barrot said.

He is expected to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas.

The Israeli Defense Ministry announced that it had signed an agreement worth $5.2 billion (€4.8 billion) with US aircraft giant Boeing for 25 "next generation" F-15 fighter jets.

"While focusing on immediate needs for advanced weaponry and ammunition at unprecedented levels, we're simultaneously investing in long-term strategic capabilities," Defense Ministry Director General Eyal Zamir said in a statement.

"This F-15 squadron, alongside the third F-35 squadron procured earlier this year, represents a historic enhancement of our air power and strategic reach," he added.

Since the start of the war with Hamas, Israel has secured arms purchase agreements worth nearly $40 billion, Zamir said.

The ministry said the latest deal for F-15IA jets, "equipped with cutting-edge weapons systems," was financed by US military aid.

The Knesset, Israel's parliament, passed a law on Thursday allowing the government to deport family members of Palestinian attackers.

The law also applies to Israeli citizens and residents of annexed east Jerusalem.

Family members with prior knowledge of their relatives' attacks or who "express suport or identification with the act of terrorism" will be deported to war-ravaged Gaza or another location for a period of seven to 20 years.

Eran Shamir-Borer, a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute and a former international law expert for the Israeli military, questioned the constitutionality of the law.

"The bottom line is this is completely non-constitutional and a clear conflict to Israel's core values," he said, adding that if the law came before the Supreme Court, he expected the court would strike it down.

Israeli airstrikes hit south Beirut early Thursday, including areas near Lebanon's international airport, footage captured by the AFP news agency showed. AFP journalists also reported loud explosions in Beirut.

The strikes came about an hour after the Israeli army urged residents of Hezbollah strongholds to evacuate.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 40 people near Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, and also hit Beirut's southern suburbs.

The strikes on eastern Lebanon also left 53 people injured.

Two waves of bombing followed, one late Wednesday and another early Thursday.

According to a Lebanese local official, an airstrike landed close to Baalbek's UNESCO-listed Roman ruins, a heritage site with some of the largest and best-preserved Roman temples outside of Rome.

In the town of Barja in central Lebanon, rescuers pulled 30 bodies out of the rubble after a late-night Israeli strike on an apartment building, authorities said on Wednesday.

Officials said some of the neighbors have reported there are still people missing.

This escalation follows over a year of clashes between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which intensified in September with Israeli bombardments and incursions in southern Lebanon.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon as the conflict continues.

Human rights organizations have criticized how Israel and Hezbollah have given civilians evacuation orders during the Lebanon conflict, saying they are not effective. 

Thousands of people protested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for the second consecutive night in Jerusalem on Wednesday night.

Thousands of demonstrators also gathered outside parliament.

Netanyahu dismissed Gallant on Tuesday, saying he had lost trust in the defense minister.

The protesters called for Gallant’s reinstatement, a compromise with Hamas for the release of about 100 Israeli hostages still in captivity and the abandonment of planned exemptions from compulsory military service for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men.

Demonstrators also demanded an inquiry into the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

Gallant's support of these demands earlier led to his rift with Netanyahu and eventual dismissal.

On Tuesday, Israeli police arrested 40 protesters.

Israel's decision to ban the operations of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank will have "disastrous consequences," the agency head said on Wednesday.

Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said Israel's actions will impact millions of Palestinians.

 "In Gaza, dismantling UNRWA will collapse the UN humanitarian response, which relies heavily on the agency's infrastructure," he said.

He warned that an "entire generation will be denied the right to education," adding that only UNRWA could deliver an education to more than 650,000 children in Gaza without a "capable public administration or state."

In Gaza, UNRWA is essential for humanitarian aid, where almost the entire population of around 2.3 million Palestinians relies on aid for survival.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long called for UNRWA to be dismantled, accusing it of anti-Israeli incitement. Israel also says UNRWA staff took part in the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel. Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the US, EU and Israel, among others.

Last month, lawmakers in the Knesset passed two bills preventing the UNRWA from operating within Israeli territory.

Meanwhile, the UN said it won’t replace UNRWA services as that responsibility lies with Israel as the occupying power.

"If UNRWA is no longer able to operate it would be the responsibility of the Israeli authorities to replace its services that it delivers to civilians," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

ss/sms (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)