Independent Online News
The ceasefire agreement in Lebanon represents “the first ray of hope for peace” in the regional war “amidst the darkness of the last few months”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday in Lisbon.
“It is a moment of great importance, especially for the civilians who were paying an enormous price for the fact that this conflict is not only dragging on, but is also gaining increasingly worrying dimensions,” he said.… Read the rest
Attacks on a clinic and UN staff member were reported during a resumed polio vaccine campaign in besieged northern Gaza, Israeli forces continued airstrikes on Lebanon on Sunday and in Yemen, a new water project launched a “lifeline” for populations fleeing conflict, with updates from Syria.
The humanitarian situation in Lebanon has surpassed the devastation wrought by the war with Israel in 2006, UN agencies said on Saturday, publishing the latest updates from the ground amid calls for an immediate ceasefire.
A new Israel airstrike hit the border post of Joussieh, where many Lebanese and Syrian people are crossing to escape the violence.
Large parts of the city of Rafah are now a “ghost town”, with UN humanitarians reporting on Tuesday that some 450,000 Gazans have been forcibly displaced from the southernmost city by Israeli evacuation orders in the last week.
Israeli military manoeuvres and shelling continued in and around eastern Rafah in southern Gaza on Wednesday morning as UN humanitarians stressed that “no fuel or aid” is getting into the enclave.
“We’re not receiving any aid, the crossing area has ongoing military operations and is an active war zone,” said Scott Anderson, from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in a post on X.