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Al-Ahram Weekly
4 days ago
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
UN rapporteur calls for global action to stop genocide in Gaza
The United Nations' special rapporteur for Gaza and the West Bank said that it's time for nations around the world to take concrete actions to stop the genocide in Gaza. Francesca Albanese spoke to delegates from 30 countries meeting in Colombia's capital to discuss the Israeli war on Gaza and ways that nations can try to stop it. Many of the participating nations have described the violence as genocide against the Palestinians. 'Each state must immediately review and suspend all ties with the State of Israel ... and ensure its private sector does the same,' said Albanese,who was sanctioned by the U.S. earlier this month. 'The Israeli economy is structured to sustain the occupation that has now turned genocidal.' The two-day conference organized by the governments of Colombia and South Africa is being attended mostly by developing nations, although the governments of Spain, Ireland and China have also sent delegates. Since it begininng of the war on October 2023, Israel has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians in Gaza. The conference is co-chaired by the governments of South Africa and Colombia, which last year suspended coal exports to Israeli power plants, and includes the participation of members of The Hague Group, a coalition of eight nations that earlier this year pledged to cut military ties with Israel and to comply with an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Netanyahu. Participating nations have said they are trying to comply with an I nternational Court of Justice opinion issued last year that said Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal. There is also a U.N. General Assembly resolution from September, which demands that Israel withdraw its military from Palestinian territories and calls on member nations to stop selling weapons to Israel. 'It's important that we stand up for the rule of law in a meaningful way,' said Chrispin Phiri, a spokesman for South Africa's Department of International Relations who is attending the conference in Bogota. 'This idea that international law ... can only be enforced on counties of the global south is something that has become unsustainable.' For decades, South Africa's ruling African National Congress party has compared Israel's policies in Gaza and the West Bank with its own history of oppression under the harsh apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to 'homelands' or Bantustans, before ending in 1994. Albanese also brought up the comparison as she spoke to delegates in the conference, and urged them to impose sanctions on Israel until it withdraws from Gaza and the West Bank. 'I ask you to consider this moment as if we were sitting here in the 1990s, discussing the case of apartheid South Africa. Would you have proposed selective sanctions on South Africa for its conduct in individual Bantustans? Or would you have recognized the state's criminal system as a whole?' Albanese said. The gathering comes as the European Union weighs various measures against Israel including a ban on imports from Israeli settlements, an arms embargo and individual sanctions against Israeli officials found to be blocking a peaceful solution to the conflict. Colombia's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Mauricio Jaramillo said Monday that the nations participating in the Bogota meeting, which also include Qatar and Turkey, will be discussing diplomatic and judicial measures that can be taken to put more pressure on Israel to cease its attacks. The Colombian official described Israel's conduct in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as an affront to the international order. 'This is not just about Palestine,' Jaramillo said in a press conference. 'It is about defending international law … and the right to self determination.' This story was edited by Ahram Online. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Express Tribune
4 days ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
12 Lebanese killed in Israeli strikes
A person looks at a destroyed vehicle, at a site of an Israeli strike, in the town of Almat in Jbeil district, Lebanon on November 10, 2024. File photo AFP Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes killed 12 people on Tuesday in the Bekaa Valley in the country's east, where the Israeli military claimed attacks on Hezbollah. Israel's military said it struck targets belonging to Hezbollah's elite Radwan force, in its latest attack on Lebanon despite a ceasefire between Israel and the group. A military statement said Israeli fighter jets launched "numerous strikes" on "Hezbollah terror targets in the area of Bekaa". The targets included training facilities used to "plan and carry out terrorist attacks against (Israeli) troops and the State of Israel", it added. The Lebanese health ministry said that "Israeli airstrikes on the Bekaa and Baalbek-Hermel governorates today resulted in the deaths of 12 people and the wounding of 12 others". All the deaths were in a strike on the Wadi Fara area in Baalbek district, according to the ministry, reporting seven Syrians and five Lebanese killed. The state-run National News Agency earlier said that the strike "targeted a camp for displaced Syrians". Hezbollah condemned the strikes, calling them "a major escalation in the context of the ongoing aggression against Lebanon and its people". It called on Lebanese authorities to "take serious, immediate and decisive action" to uphold the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war that left the group severely weakened. The military statement said that since Israel had "eliminated" Radwan force commanders in September, "the unit has been operating to reestablish its capabilities". Storing weapons and other "activities" at the sites targeted on Tuesday were "a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and constitute a future threat to the State of Israel", it added.
Al-Ahram Weekly
5 days ago
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Israeli strikes on east Lebanon kill 12: Ministry - Region
Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes killed 12 people on Tuesday in the Bekaa Valley in the country's east, where the Israeli military claimed attacks on militant group Hezbollah. Israel's military claimed it struck targets belonging to Hezbollah's elite Radwan force, in its latest attack on Lebanon despite a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group. A military statement said Israeli fighter jets launched "numerous strikes" on "Hezbollah terror targets in the area of Bekaa". The targets included training facilities used to "plan and carry out terrorist attacks against (Israeli) troops and the State of Israel", it added. The Lebanese health ministry said that "Israeli airstrikes on the Bekaa and Baalbek-Hermel governorates today resulted in the deaths of 12 people and the wounding of 12 others". All the deaths were in a strike on the Wadi Fara area in Baalbek district, according to the ministry, reporting seven Syrians and five Lebanese killed. The state-run National News Agency earlier said that the strike "targeted a camp for displaced Syrians". Hezbollah condemned the strikes, calling them "a major escalation in the context of the ongoing aggression against Lebanon and its people". It called on Lebanese authorities to "take serious, immediate and decisive action" to uphold the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war that left the group severely weakened. The military statement said that since Israel had "eliminated" Radwan force commanders in September, "the unit has been operating to reestablish its capabilities". Storing weapons and other "activities" at the sites targeted on Tuesday were "a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and constitute a future threat to the State of Israel", it added. Defence Minister Israel Katz said the latest strikes were "a clear message" to Hezbollah and the Lebanese government "which is responsible for upholding the agreement". "We will strike every terrorist and thwart any threat to the residents of the north and to the State of Israel," he said in a statement of the area bordering Lebanon. Katz also vowed to "respond with maximum force against any attempt at rebuilding" Hezbollah's capabilities. Under the November ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the region. Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from the country but has kept them in five places it deems strategic. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Nahar Net
5 days ago
- Politics
- Nahar Net
12 killed as Israel says struck Radwan force 'training camps' in Bekaa
by Naharnet Newsdesk 11 hours Israeli warplanes on Tuesday carried out strikes on the Wadi Faara area in northern Bekaa, one of them targeting a Syrian refugee camp, killing 12 people, including seven Syrians, and wounding eight others, Lebanon's National News Agency reported. A security source told Reuters that the dead include five Hezbollah fighters. A Lebanese security source meanwhile told Al-Jazeera that Wadi Faara was targeted by three Israeli airstrikes, with one of them hitting an excavator vehicle. It was not immediately clear if the Wadi Faara raid was part of the 15 airstrikes that Israel carried out in the morning against alleged Hezbollah training camps in the Bekaa region. Israel's military said in the morning that it was striking targets belonging to Hezbollah's elite Radwan force in eastern Lebanon, the latest attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed group. "Moments ago, Israeli Air Force fighter jets... began numerous strikes toward Hezbollah terror targets in the area of Bekaa, Lebanon," it said in a statement. "The military compounds that were struck were used by the Hezbollah terrorist organization for training and exercising terrorists to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against (Israeli) troops and the State of Israel," it added. The statement said an Israeli military operation in September 2024 had "eliminated" Radwan force commanders in Beirut's southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, but that "since then the unit has been operating to reestablish its capabilities." "The storage of weapons and the activities of the Hezbollah terrorist organization at these sites constitute a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and constitute a future threat to the State of Israel," it added. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strikes were "a clear message" to Hezbollah and the Lebanese government "which is responsible for upholding the agreement." "We will strike every terrorist and thwart any threat to the residents of the north and to the State of Israel -- and we will respond with maximum force against any attempt at rebuilding," he said in a statement from his ministry. Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war that left the group severely weakened. Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese Army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the region. Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from the country but has kept them in five places it deems strategic.
Business Recorder
5 days ago
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Israeli strikes on east Lebanon kill 12: ministry
BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes killed 12 people on Tuesday in the Bekaa Valley in the country's east, where the Israeli military claimed attacks on group Hezbollah. Israel's military said it struck targets belonging to Hezbollah's elite Radwan force, in its latest attack on Lebanon despite a ceasefire between Israel and the group. A military statement said Israeli fighter jets launched 'numerous strikes' on 'Hezbollah terror targets in the area of Bekaa'. The targets included training facilities used to 'plan and carry out terrorist attacks against (Israeli) troops and the State of Israel', it added. The Lebanese health ministry said that 'Israeli airstrikes on the Bekaa and Baalbek-Hermel governorates today resulted in the deaths of 12 people and the wounding of 12 others'. All the deaths were in a strike on the Wadi Fara area in Baalbek district, according to the ministry, reporting seven Syrians and five Lebanese killed. Israeli strikes kill 43 in Gaza as truce talks stalls The state-run National News Agency earlier said that the strike 'targeted a camp for displaced Syrians'. Hezbollah condemned the strikes, calling them 'a major escalation in the context of the ongoing aggression against Lebanon and its people'. It called on Lebanese authorities to 'take serious, immediate and decisive action' to uphold the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war that left the group severely weakened. The military statement said that since Israel had 'eliminated' Radwan force commanders in September, 'the unit has been operating to reestablish its capabilities'. Storing weapons and other 'activities' at the sites targeted on Tuesday were 'a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and constitute a future threat to the State of Israel', it added. Defence Minister Israel Katz said the latest strikes were 'a clear message' to Hezbollah and the Lebanese government 'which is responsible for upholding the agreement'. 'We will strike every terrorist and thwart any threat to the residents of the north and to the State of Israel,' he said in a statement of the area bordering Lebanon. Katz also vowed to 'respond with maximum force against any attempt at rebuilding' Hezbollah's capabilities. Under the November ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the region. Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from the country but has kept them in five places it deems strategic.
