Israel has lost support of international public Archives - Page 5 of 9

Algeria suspends flights to Lebanon amid regional tensions

Algeria’s flag carrier Air Algerie said Thursday that it suspended its flights to and from Lebanon until further notice. The airline urged all customers to contact the company’s call centers for more information and updates. The national carrier did not provide a specific reason for the decision. However, it follows similar moves by other airlines, including Kuwait Airways, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines. The suspension comes amid rising tensions and the potential for a broader conflict between Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah group on one side and Israel on the other. It follows the assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr by Israel on Tuesday and accusations by the Palestinian group Hamas and Iran that Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, in the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday. Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport, the only airport in Lebanon, has previously been targeted during the country’s civil war from 1975 to 1989 and in past conflicts with Israel, most recently in the July 2006 war. Hamas and Iran have vowed to retaliate for Haniyeh’s assassination, while Hezbollah has pledged to respond to Shukr’s killing. Meanwhile, international efforts are underway to de-escalate the situation and prevent the conflict from spreading further in the region. Fears have grown of a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah amid a months-long exchange of cross-border fire. The escalation comes against the backdrop of an Israeli onslaught on Gaza which has killed nearly 39,500 people since last October following an attack by Hamas.

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UNRWA: 200 UNRWA workers killed in Gaza

Africa / yasir

Nearly 200 UNRWA workers have been killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s ongoing offensive on Oct. 7, 2023, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Saturday. “When the war in Gaza started nearly 10 months ago, no one thought we will reach this grim milestone. Nearly 200 UNRWA team members have been killed in Gaza,” Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement on X. “These are not numbers, these are our colleagues and our friends,” said Lazzarini, noting that “this is by far the largest loss of personnel killed in a single conflict or natural disaster since the creation of the United Nations – a reality the world must never accept.” Lazzarini reiterated “the call of the UN Secretary General for a full accountability for each and every one of these deaths.” Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. More than 39,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children. Vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine. Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

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UN chief: Humanitarian situation in Gaza ‘total disaster

World / yasir

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip while reiterating a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is a total disaster,” Guterres said as he listed two reasons. “First, a military campaign that has the highest level of killing and destruction that I remember in any other military campaign since I am Secretary General, anywhere in the world,” he said. “The second reason is because the level of humanitarian aid is totally out of proportion with the needs.” His remarks came one day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the US Congress, where he claimed that the war in Gaza has “one of the lowest ratios of combatants to non-combatant casualties in the history of urban warfare.” Turning to Netanyahu’s claims about Gaza, Guterres said: “There was nothing said yesterday that is new. So, there is nothing that was said that deserves comments, and obviously, we absolutely must keep the two-state solution as the only possible long-term solution for peace in the region, independently of whatever is said by whoever, wherever.” Asked by Anadolu about his evaluations of Netanyahu’s claims about the number of casualties in Gaza, Guterres said: “My answer is simple: to whom people believe in relation to that, I am very at ease in relation to this question.” Guterres said he has not reached out to Netanyahu while he is in the US to discuss attacks on UN convoys in Gaza. “I have not reached out to the Prime Minister, but our people have been reaching out, both to Israeli authorities and also to other countries, exactly in order to make sure that this kind of regrettable incidents are not repeated,” he added. Netanyahu has faced a wave of protests since arriving Monday in Washington. Thousands took to the streets to protest his address to Congress and his policies in Gaza. They are also demanding a cease-fire in the besieged enclave. Nearly 39,200 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,400 injured, according to local health authorities. Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine. Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

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