By Abdul Adil
(AA, Al Jazeera, Wafa, NNA, Muslim News):
Lebanon
A cease-fire deal between Lebanon and Israel came into force on Wednesday, ending over 14 months of fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah group.
Meanwhile, The Health Ministry said that 78 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Tuesday, a day before the cease-fire took effect, bringing the overall death toll since last October to 3,961 people.
The ministry added that 266 people were also injured, pushing up the number of injuries to 16,520.
Under the terms of the cease-fire, Israel will withdraw its forces south of the Blue Line de facto border in a phased manner while the Lebanese army deploys its forces in southern Lebanon within a period that does not exceed 60 days.
Implementation of the agreement will be overseen by the US and France, but details on enforcement mechanisms remain unclear.
However, Israel has committed several violations of the cease-fire agreement with Lebanon since it took effect early on Wednesday, Lebanese authorities have said.
There have been at least 18 violations, with 13 on Wednesday alone, according to a tally by Anadolu, compiled through Israeli army announcements and news sources including Lebanon’s National News Agency.
Violations on Wednesday:
– Israeli drone strike hits a car in the town of Markaba, Marjayoun district of Nabatieh governorate, injuring two people. Israeli Army Radio says the car was targeted to “remove it from a prohibited area”
– Israeli warplanes attack a site in southern Lebanon, which the army claimed belonged to Hezbollah and contained rockets
– Israeli tank fire hits the towns of Kafr Shuba and Al-Wazzani in Hasbaiyya district of Nabatieh governorate
– Israeli artillery shells the towns of Taybeh and Khiam, and the Marjayoun plain in Marjayoun district
– Israeli artillery shells hills of the town of Haltah in Hasbaiyya district, and the Ras al-Zaher area in the town of Mays al-Jabal, Marjayoun district
– Israeli drone flies over towns in the Tyre district of South governorate, and the town of Bint Jbeil in Nabatieh governorate
– Israeli artillery shells the town of Aita al-Shaab, and the city of Bint Jbeil in Bint Jbeil district
Violations on Thursday:
– Israeli army fires at journalists in the town of Khiam, Marjayoun district while they were covering the return of residents and the Israeli withdrawal from the town, injuring two
– Israeli artillery fires shells near the Fatima Gate in the town of Kafr Kila in Marjayoun district. The towns of Odaisseh and Khiam also targeted
– Israeli army arrests four people in southern Lebanon, claiming they approached Israeli forces in the area. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says they belonged to Hezbollah and that one of them was a local leader
GAZA
At least 48 more Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, pushing up the overall death toll since last year to 44,330, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Thursday.
A ministry statement added that some 104,933 others were injured in the ongoing assault.
“Israeli forces killed 48 people and injured 53 others in three massacres of families in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said.
“Many people are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
The Israeli strike targeted a tent housing displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.
A child was among those killed, it said, adding that several more people were wounded in the attack.
Israeli forces had earlier carried out another strike on southern Gaza, killing several people in Khan Younis and Rafah.
At least four Palestinians were killed and several others wounded this evening in an Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, according to local sources.
WAFA correspondent reported that Israeli warplanes targeted a tent sheltering a displaced family behind the Abu Matar Mosque, located southwest of Khan Younis. The attack resulted in the killing of four civilians, including a child, and left several others injured.
WAFA correspondent said at least three Palestinians were killed when an Israeli drone strike targeted a group of people in the Qaa’ al-Qarein area, located southeast of Khan Younis.
Additionally, several others were reported killed in a separate Israeli airstrike that hit a group of people near the Khirbet al-Adas intersection, north of Rafah.
Medical sources reported that since the early morning of today, at least 25 Palestinians have been confirmed killed as a result of the ongoing Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip.
Nine Palestinians were killed and others were injured on Thursday in a violent shelling by the occupation on the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.
The Al-Awda Hospital in the camp said it received the bodies of 16 Palestinians while 55 others were injured in the attack.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society also said one person was killed and six others were wounded in an airstrike targeting a group of civilians in Jabalia in northern Gaza.
Two more people were killed and two others injured in another strike in the southern city of Rafah, a medical source told Anadolu.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that four Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes belonging to the families of “Sahwail” and “Zaqqout” in Beit Lahia Project area in the northern Gaza Strip.
Another Palestinian was killed in the Saftawi area in northern Gaza City as the Israeli artillery strikes continued.
A medical source also told Anadolu that four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on tents for displaced people in the Abasan town, eastern Khan Younis city, in the southern Gaza Strip.
In the Qarara town, northern Khan Younis, two Palestinians were killed by an Israeli drone strike, according to another medical source.
A Palestinian woman succumbed to her wounds she sustained from a previous Israeli airstrike on the Mawasi area, western Khan Younis, the medical source added.
YEMEN
US and British warplanes launched two airstrikes on Yemen’s coastal province of Al Hudaydah on Thursday, the Houthi [Ansarallah] group said.
The Houthi-run Al-Masirah television said the attacks targeted Bajil district in the province, without providing any further details.
There was also no comment from the US or UK on the report.
Since the beginning of 2024, a coalition led by the US has been conducting airstrikes that it said are targeting Houthi locations in parts of Yemen in response to attacks by the group on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The counterattacks have been occasionally met with retaliation from the group.
In solidarity with Gaza, Houthis have targeted Israeli cargo ships or those associated with Tel Aviv with missiles and drones, expressing their determination to continue operations until the end of the onslaught on the enclave.
With the intervention of Washington and London and an escalation of tensions, the Houthis announced that they consider all American and British ships military targets.
UK
More than 60 British lawmakers from seven political parties have called on Foreign Secretary David Lammy to impose sanctions on Israel, citing “repeated violations of international law.”
The letter was sent to Lammy on Wednesday night and spearheaded by independent MPs Richard Burgon and Imran Hussain.
It draws on a landmark advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July, which declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories unlawful and called for its immediate end.
Among the signatories are prominent political figures, including former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer, and ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Other lawmakers representing Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and the Scottish National Party, also joined the call.
Members of the pro-Gaza Independent Alliance and peers like Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who served as co-chairwoman of the Conservative Party, also signed the letter.
The ICJ advisory opinion highlighted that all states, including the UK, have a legal obligation to refrain from actions that recognize or support Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
The MPs’ letter urged the UK government to take immediate steps to comply with international law.
“We write to urge the UK government to impose sanctions and take other concrete steps to give effect to the landmark opinion issued by the ICJ on Israel’s continuing illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory,” said the letter.
The letter stressed that the UK’s stated commitment to international law should be reflected in its actions. “Acting in support of the ICJ advisory opinion would be a critical step in demonstrating that commitment,” the MPs wrote.
The lawmakers also called Britain “to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Territories” and “to abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the Occupied Territories which may entrench its unlawful presence there.”
[Photo: Displaced Palestinians near Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza City endure harsh living conditions in makeshift tents, where families, including women and children, sit outside patched tarpaulin shelters to shield themselves from the cold and rain, as children navigate muddy roads, some barefoot, while others help with daily chores such as carrying water or gathering supplies as Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip continue for the 419th day on November 28, 2024 in Gaza City, Gaza. Photojournalist: Dawoud Abo Alkas/AA]
