Lebanon calls Israeli attack in Sidon ‘war crime’
The Lebanese government has accused Israel of carrying out “war crimes” following its deadly drone attack in the southern city of Sidon on Thursday.
Lebanese authorities said an Israeli drone struck a vehicle in the city while a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) convoy was driving close by. Three people were killed in the attack and several more were injured, including six Malaysian peacekeepers, reported Al Jazeera.
UN aid official presses Israeli PM on aid to Gaza, Palestinians
Sigrid Kaag, the UN’s humanitarian aid representative for Gaza, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the urgent need for humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in the war-torn territory, reported Al Jazeera.
Israel’s siege denies food, water to as many as 95,000 in north Gaza, warns UN
UN associate spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay said Israel’s military is preventing food and water from entering besieged northern Gaza where an estimated 75,000 to 95,000 Palestinians are trapped and in need of supplies for their survival, reported Al Jazeera.
Biden to keep pressing diplomatic efforts in Gaza, Lebanon: White House
Democratic US President Joe Biden will continue to advance diplomatic efforts to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages, as well as continue to seek a resolution in Lebanon before he leaves office next January, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday.
Israeli strike destroys Ottoman-era building near Baalbek ruins
An Israeli airstrike has destroyed an Ottoman-era building just a stone’s throw from the Unesco-listed temples of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, the closest Israel has come yet to striking one of Lebanon’s most treasured archaeological sites.
Heaps of grey masonry and twisted metal lay on Thursday next to a burnt-out bus just a few dozen metres (yards) from the World Heritage Site, a day after the attack which was part of a wave of strikes that killed 40 people in and around the city.
Governor Bachir Khodr told Reuters the destroyed building in the historic Manshiyeh neighbourhood just outside the ancient temple site was valuable in itself, dating to the Ottoman era.
Maya Halabi of the Baalbek International Festival said that a total of three Ottoman-era sites had now been damaged by Israeli strikes in recent weeks, including the Gouroud Barracks, the Palmyra Hotel and the house destroyed on Wednesday.
