One of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, Tyre in southern Lebanon, is now scarred by weeks of Israeli assault. Residents who were displaced are returning to a landscape of rubble and despair.
For the first time during a continual war, the human rights organization Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Many Israelis will remember 2024 as the year that over 100 Israeli hostages were held captive following their abduction by Hamas last year.Some anaylists say Israelis remain trapped in the horror of October 7 until the hostages are free.
On its first day, thousands of Lebanese were returning to their homes in southern Lebanon as part of a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah mediated by the United States. With the cease-fire, many Israelis hope that the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza will also come to an end.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, would be effectively barred from operating in Gaza Strip by new Israeli laws, according to charity workers and families in Gaza. This could have a catastrophic impact for the 2 million people currently facing a year of violence and looming famine.
West Bank Palestinians are suffering, while others in Gaza are in verge of starvation. The entire West Bank economy is collapsing, and they are unable to find employment in Israel. Reporting from Ramallah in the West Bank is Linda Gradstein.
Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, addresses the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
With Israel continues targeting Hezbollah,Israeli prime minister is urging UN peacekeeping soldiers to evacuate war-torn parts of Lebanon. After hearing that five U.N. peacekeepers had been injured in recent Israeli strikes, he made his comments.
A quarter of a million people, according to the UN, have left Israel’s attacks in Lebanon in the last two weeks in search of the relative safety of Syria. Having fled their country’s civil conflict for safety in Lebanon, the majority of them are Syrians who have returned home with no place to stay.
A small port in Turkey is serving as an alternate route for people fleeing Lebanon, as the majority of flights out of the country have been canceled and ticket costs have skyrocketed.