BEIRUT: The Lebanese Armed Forces on Wednesday refuted rumors that Israel had agreed to cede the 13 disputed points along the land border with Lebanon in the latter’s favor.
The rumors had suggested the Israeli consent was “part of the process to clarify the borders in exchange for the removal of a Hezbollah tent that was erected in June on the Kfar Chouba hills, located on the Lebanese side occupied by Israel.”
It came after a tripartite meeting on Tuesday in Ras Al-Naqoura, on the border, chaired by the head of mission and force commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, Maj. Gen. Aroldo Lazaro. The participants included Lebanese army officers led by Brig. Gen. Mounir Shehadeh, who is the Lebanese government’s coordinator with UNIFIL, and a delegation of Israeli officers.
On Wednesday, Lebanon’s army command said its representatives at the meeting “discussed the 13 points that Lebanon had reservations about on the Blue Line, considering them violations, but an agreement had not been reached. It was decided to maintain contacts and meetings under the auspices of the United Nations.”
The Blue Line, also known as the “withdrawal line,” is a border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel set by the UN in June 2000 to help determine whether Israeli forces had fully withdrawn from Lebanese territory, but it is not considered an international border.
Andrea Tenenti, the official spokesperson for UNIFIL, said: “The discussions taking place in the tripartite meetings are confidential and the media reports issued on Wednesday contain speculation that does not accurately reflect the discussions that took place on Tuesday.
“Such reports based on unconfirmed rumors have the potential to jeopardize the progress achieved so far in reducing tensions and advancing discussions on unresolved matters along the Blue Line.
“The intention is to continue with the discussions under the auspices of UNIFIL, with the ultimate objective of addressing all issues along the Blue Line.”
The UN recognizes the borders between Lebanon and Palestine, which were demarcated in 1923 and approved by the League of Nations. The Armistice Agreement of 1949, which formally ended the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, was based on these borders. It obliges Israel to respect Lebanon’s internationally recognized boundaries, stipulating that the Armistice Demarcation Line should follow the international boundary between Lebanon and Palestine.
Retired Lebanese Army Maj. Gen. Abdul Rahman Chehaitli told Arab News he was surprised that the issue of land border demarcation had been discussed during the meeting in Ras Al-Naqoura.
“The borders have already been drawn and recognized,” he said. “The dispute revolves around 13 points on the Blue Line, which is not a border line.”
Amos Hochstein, the US special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, previously led indirect negotiations between Lebanon and Israel that concluded last year with the agreed demarcation of maritime borders between the two countries.
He visited Lebanon at the end of August this year and held meetings with Lebanese officials, during which he was briefed on the start of the process of exploring Lebanese waters for potentially commercial quantities of gas.
Reports indicated that during the meetings Hochstein presented “American ideas related to land border demarcation to discuss with Lebanon, following his success in demarcating maritime borders.”
Lebanese authorities oppose the use of the term “demarcation” for its land borders, on the grounds that they are already defined. They say the focus should be on “clarifying” the borders and addressing disputed points, and on the need to prevent Israeli violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which was intended to resolve the 2006 Lebanon War between Hezbollah and Israel.
Chehaitli, the retired Lebanese army officer, said: “The approval of Lebanon and Israel regarding the US message on maritime border demarcation did not align with the level of agreement in form. What happened cannot be viewed merely as measures to facilitate economic benefits; Lebanon’s maritime borders are not demarcated, unlike its land borders.
“Lebanon should not engage in discussions about demarcating its land borders. Such actions would be in violation of the Constitution, as Article 2 states that no part of Lebanese territory may be ceded.”
Lebanon’s caretaker foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, said on July 11: “Resolving issues on the southern border does not imply normalization. There are 13 disputed points along the Blue Line with Israel, with agreement on seven and six remaining points in dispute.”
The disputed points along the 120-kilometer Blue Line stretch from Shebaa Farms in the southeast to the town of Al-Naqoura in the southwest.
Lebanese Army denies land border agreement with Israel, says Blue Line disputes remain
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Lebanese Army denies land border agreement with Israel, says Blue Line disputes remain
- After a meeting of military officers from both countries on Tuesday, rumors circulated that Israel had agreed to cede 13 disputed points along the southern border to Lebanon
- Lebanon’s army command said ‘13 points that Lebanon had reservations about on the Blue Line’ were discussed during the meeting ‘but an agreement had not been reached’
Gaza’s living conditions worsen as strong winds and hypothermia kill 5
- Hundreds of tents and makeshift shelters were blown away or heavily damaged, the UN humanitarian office reported
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Strong winter winds collapsed walls onto flimsy tents for Palestinians displaced by war in Gaza, killing at least four people, hospital authorities said Tuesday.
Dangerous living conditions persist in Gaza after more than two years of devastating Israeli bombardment and aid shortfalls. A ceasefire has been in effect since Oct. 10. But aid groups say that Palestinians broadly lack the shelter necessary to withstand frequent winter storms.
The dead include two women, a girl and a man, according to Shifa Hospital, Gaza City’s largest, which received the bodies.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday a 1-year-old boy died of hypothermia overnight, while the spokesman for the UN’s children agency said over 100 children and teenagers have been killed by “military means” since the ceasefire began.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military said it exchanged fire Tuesday with six people spotted near its troops deployed in southern Gaza, killing at least two of them in western Rafah.
Family mourns relatives killed by wall collapse
Three members of the same family — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old granddaughter and his daughter-in-law — were killed when an 8-meter (26-foot) high wall collapsed onto their tent in a coastal area along the Mediterranean shore of Gaza City, Shifa Hospital said. At least five others were injured.
Their relatives on Tuesday began removing the rubble that had buried their loved ones and rebuilding the tent shelters for survivors.
“The world has allowed us to witness death in all its forms,” Bassel Hamouda said after the funeral. “It’s true the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip.”
A second woman was killed when a wall fell on her tent in the western part of the city, Shifa Hospital said.
Hundreds of tents and makeshift shelters were blown away or heavily damaged, the UN humanitarian office reported.
The UN and its humanitarian partners were distributing tents, tarps, blankets and clothes as well as nutrition and hygiene items across Gaza, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The majority of Palestinians live in makeshift tents since their homes were reduced to rubble during the war. When storms strike the territory, Palestinian rescue workers warn people against seeking shelter inside damaged buildings for fears of collapse. Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are entering Gaza during the truce.
In the central town of Zawaida, Associated Press footage showed inundated tents Tuesday morning, with people trying to rebuild their shelters.
Yasmin Shalha, a displaced woman from the northern town of Beit Lahiya, stood against winds that lifted the tarps of tents around her as she stitched hers back together with needle and thread. She said it had fallen on top of her family the night before, as they slept.
“The winds were very, very strong. The tent collapsed over us,” the mother of five told AP. “As you can see, our situation is dire.”
On the shore in southern Gaza, tents were swept into the Mediterranean. Families pulled what was left from the sea, while some built sand barriers to hold back rising water.
“The sea took our mattresses, our tents, our food and everything we owned,” Shaban Abu Ishaq said, as he dragged part of his tent out of the sea in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis.
Mohamed Al-Sawalha, a 72-year-old man from the northern refugee camp of Jabaliya, said the conditions most Palestinians in Gaza endure are barely livable.
“It doesn’t work neither in summer nor in winter,” he said of the tent. “We left behind houses and buildings (with) doors that could be opened and closed. Now we live in a tent. Even sheep don’t live like we do.”
Residents aren’t able to return to their homes in Israeli-controlled areas of the Gaza Strip.
Child death toll in Gaza rises
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the 1-year-old in the central town of Deir Al-Balah was the seventh fatality due to the cold conditions since winter started. Others included a baby just seven days old and a 4-year-old girl, whose deaths were announced Monday.
The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, says more than 440 people were killed by Israeli fire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the ceasefire went into effect. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.
UNICEF spokesman James Elder said Tuesday at least 100 children under the age of 18 — 60 boys and 40 girls — have been killed since the truce began due to military operations, including drone strikes, airstrikes, tank shelling and use of live ammunition. Those figures, he said, reflect incidents where enough details have been compiled to warrant recording, but the total toll is expected to be higher. He said hundreds of children have been wounded.
While “bombings and shootings have slowed” during the ceasefire, they have not stopped, Elder told reporters at a UN briefing in Geneva by video from Gaza City. “So what the world now calls calm would be considered a crisis anywhere else,” he said.
Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people has been struggling to keep the cold weather and storms at bay while facing shortages of humanitarian aid and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly needed during the winter months. It’s the third winter since the war between Israel and Hamas started on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people and abducted 251 others into Gaza.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 71,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.
