Skip next section UN Security Council warns against dismantling UNRWA
10/30/2024October 30, 2024
UN Security Council warns against dismantling UNRWA
The UN Security Council expressed its “grave concern” over the Israeli parliament’s adoption of a bill banning , the main United Nations aid agency working with Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
In a statement adopted by consensus, the 15-member body urged Israel “to abide by its international obligations, respect the privileges and immunities of UNRWA and live up to its responsibility to allow and facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms into and throughout the entire Gaza Strip.”
“No organization can replace or substitute UNRWA’s capacity and mandate to serve Palestinian refugees and civilians in urgent need of life-saving humanitarian assistance,” the Council said.
The declaration comes after from operating in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem, as well as prevent it from communicating and coordinating with Israeli authorities, a move that could essentially end its work in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Israel has accused , linking several UNRWA members with the terrorist attack on southern Israel in October 7, which sparked the war in Gaza.
But UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that a potential Israeli ban on UNRWA would violate international law, along with the founding UN Charter and a 1946 UN convention on the diplomatic privileges and immunities granted to UN operations.
https://p.dw.com/p/4mPsW
Skip next section Israel targets ancient Lebanese city of Baalbeck
10/30/2024October 30, 2024
Israel targets ancient Lebanese city of Baalbeck
Israel’s army issued an evacuation warning for residents in the city of Baalbeck in , along with surrounding areas and key routes in the Bekaa Valley.
Under the area marked for evacuation was the city’s ancient Roman temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Following the evacuation, a series of strikes were reported near Baalbeck and nearby villages in eastern Lebanon, security sources and witnesses said.
The strikes happened at the same time as newly-appointed Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Kassem gave his first televised speech.
Most of Baalbeck’s residents are said to have fled the city after the Israeli army issued the warning.
https://p.dw.com/p/4mPpY
Skip next section New Hezbollah leader open to cease-fire under certain conditions
10/30/2024October 30, 2024
New Hezbollah leader open to cease-fire under certain conditions
newly appointed Secretary-General Naim Kassem said on Wednesday that the organization was open to ending the war with Israel under certain conditions.
Kassem was chosen by Hezbollah’s decision-making Shura Council to succeed longtime leader , who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last month. The 71-year-old has insisted he will follow his predecessor’s “work program,” adding that Hezbollah could continue to resist Israel’s air and ground attacks for months to come.
“If the Israelis decide that they want to stop the aggression, we will accept that if we find the terms to be acceptable,” Kassem said in his first televised speech as Hezbollah leader.
He clarified that his organization would not “beg for a cease-fire” and said Hezbollah had not yet received a credible proposition from Israel.
Kassem doubled down on Hezbollah’s decision to open a “solidarity front” for Hamas in Gaza, saying the support for Gaza was essential to counter the “Israeli threat” in the region.
by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries. The EU lists the group’s armed wing as a terrorist entity.
jcg/ab (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)
https://p.dw.com/p/4mPol
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