Minister of Tourism: 1.35 Mln People Visited Lebanon This Summer

 The skyline of Beirut is seen during sunset from Mansourieh, Lebanon July 25, 2023. (Reuters)
The skyline of Beirut is seen during sunset from Mansourieh, Lebanon July 25, 2023. (Reuters)
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Minister of Tourism: 1.35 Mln People Visited Lebanon This Summer

 The skyline of Beirut is seen during sunset from Mansourieh, Lebanon July 25, 2023. (Reuters)
The skyline of Beirut is seen during sunset from Mansourieh, Lebanon July 25, 2023. (Reuters)

Caretaker Tourism Minister Walid Nassar revealed that 1.35 million travelers, with 30 percent of them being foreigners, had arrived in Lebanon this summer.

The country received the highest number of expatriates since 2018, reviving the tourism, service and restaurant sectors as helping it deal with its severe economic and living crises.

The Ministry of Tourism has sponsored 132 festivals this summer.

Nassar stressed that Lebanon boasts all the elements “that allow us to live in this country, invest in it, and work towards its economic and financial development.”

He emphasized the importance of implementing administrative decentralization to boost investments and development.

“Despite the poor economic and living conditions we are experiencing, from airport, infrastructure, electricity, and telecommunications problems, the Lebanese love life and refuse to give up.”

Meanwhile, caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh stressed on Saturday the need to maintain the electricity supply at Beirut international airport and the capital’s seaport as the country grapples with a stifling energy crisis.



Israeli Military Renews Orders for Palestinians to Leave Northern Gaza

Displaced Palestinians make their way as they flee areas in the northern Gaza Strip, following an Israeli evacuation order, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City October 12, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Displaced Palestinians make their way as they flee areas in the northern Gaza Strip, following an Israeli evacuation order, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City October 12, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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Israeli Military Renews Orders for Palestinians to Leave Northern Gaza

Displaced Palestinians make their way as they flee areas in the northern Gaza Strip, following an Israeli evacuation order, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City October 12, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Displaced Palestinians make their way as they flee areas in the northern Gaza Strip, following an Israeli evacuation order, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City October 12, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

The Israeli military on Saturday renewed its orders for Palestinian in the northern Gaza Strip to leave their homes and shelters as troops press on a weeklong offensive against militants.

Military spokesman Avichay Adraee told people to leave parts of Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood and other areas in and around Jabaliya, the urban refugee camp where Israeli forces carried out several major operations over the course of the war and then returned as militants regroup.

In a post on X, Adraee asked people to head south to Muwasi, a packed area in southern Gaza designed by the military as a humanitarian zone.

Most of the fighting in the past week was centered in and around Jabaliya that was pounded by Israeli war jets and artillery. Residents said they have been trapped inside their homes and shelters. The military also ordered the three main hospitals in northern Gaza to evacuate patients and medical staff.

At least 42,175 Palestinians have been killed and 98,336 others injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, Gaza's health ministry said on Saturday.