BEIRUT: The UN children’s agency condemned this week’s sharp escalation of violence between Israel and Hezbollah, saying that the bombardment of Lebanon was killing children “at a frightening rate.”
Hezbollah and Israel have been locked in a deadly exchange of cross-border fire since the Iran-backed group’s Palestinian ally, Hamas, attacked Israel on October 7.
Israel shifted its focus this week from Gaza to its northern front with Lebanon, while Hezbollah has launched barrages of rockets into northern Israel.
Since Monday, Israeli warplanes have bombarded what the military says are Hezbollah targets around Lebanon, leaving around 700 people dead, according to the Lebanese health ministry, which says the majority were civilians.
On Monday and Tuesday, 50 of those killed were children, UNICEF said, citing ministry data.
“The attacks on Lebanon are killing and injuring children at a frightening rate,” UNICEF’s Lebanon representative Edouard Beigbeder said, according to the statement.
The situation “has moved from crisis to catastrophe. The suffering of children must stop,” Beigbeder said, calling for a halt in the fighting.
Israel has hit back against accusations of large numbers of civilian casualties, accusing Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields.
UN says strikes on Lebanon killing children ‘at a frightening rate’
https://arab.news/9qev5
UN says strikes on Lebanon killing children ‘at a frightening rate’
- “The attacks on Lebanon are killing and injuring children at a frightening rate,” UNICEF’s Lebanon representative Edouard Beigbeder said
- “The suffering of children must stop“
Palestinian technocrats who will run Gaza hold their first meeting in Cairo
- Committee made up of 15 technocrats charged with administering everyday life in the Palestinian territory
CAIRO: The Palestinian committee that will govern postwar Gaza held its first meeting in Cairo on Friday.
Formed on Wednesday as the second phase of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal came into effect, the committee is made up of 15 technocrats charged with administering everyday life in the Palestinian territory.
The meeting followed US President Donald Trump’s declaration of the formation of a Gaza “board of peace,” a key phase two element of the US-backed plan to end the war.
Members of the board will be announced shortly, Trump said, and he will chair it. “I can say with certainty that it is the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place,” he said.
The peace plan also calls for the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force to help secure Gaza and train vetted Palestinian police units.
“The ball is now in the court of the mediators, the American guarantor and the international community to empower the committee," senior Hamas leader Bassem Naim said.
The US-backed Gaza peace plan first came into force on October 10, facilitating the return of all the hostages held by Hamas and an end to the fighting between the Palestinian militant group and Israel in the besieged territory.
The plan's second phase is now underway, though clouded by ongoing allegations of aid shortages and violence. Israeli forces have killed 451 Palestinians since the ceasefire began.
