Top Hamas Leader in Beirut in Bid to Stop Clashes at Lebanon’s Largest Palestinian Refugee Camp

FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp during a previous round of Palestinian factional clashes, in Sidon, Lebanon, July 30, 2023. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp during a previous round of Palestinian factional clashes, in Sidon, Lebanon, July 30, 2023. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo
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Top Hamas Leader in Beirut in Bid to Stop Clashes at Lebanon’s Largest Palestinian Refugee Camp

FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp during a previous round of Palestinian factional clashes, in Sidon, Lebanon, July 30, 2023. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp during a previous round of Palestinian factional clashes, in Sidon, Lebanon, July 30, 2023. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo

A top Hamas leader arrived in Beirut Tuesday to push for an end to clashes in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp that resumed despite multiple cease-fire agreements.

Days of fighting in the Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp near the southern port city of Sidon left at least six people dead and over 50 others wounded, according to medical officials and state media. Stray bullets and shells hit residential areas in the country’s third-largest city, wounding five Lebanese soldiers at checkpoints near the camp on Monday.

A cease-fire declared late Monday, after Lebanon's head of the country's General Security Directorate met with officials from rival Palestinian factions, lasted just hours before fighting erupted again.

Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk will meet with Lebanese officials and representatives from the Palestinian factions to try and reach a settlement to end the clashes, the militant group said in a statement.

Hamas has not taken part in the clashes.

The fighting broke out Thursday night after nearly a month of calm in Ain el-Hilweh between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah group and militant Islamist groups.

Fatah and other allied factions had intended to crack down on suspects accused of killing Fatah military general, Abu Ashraf al Armoushi, in the camp in late July.

Osama Saad, a Lebanese legislator representing Sidon said on Tuesday — in an interview with Lebanese TV station Al-Jadeed — that the camp clashes pose a wider threat to the whole country. He said al Armoushi had “good relations with all the factions” and kept the tense camp relatively secure.

“As political forces, we have a responsibility, and so do the Palestinians and Lebanese authorities to resolve this,” Saad said.

Ain el-Hilweh is home to some 55,000 people according to the United Nations, and is notorious for its lawlessness, and violence.

Meanwhile, UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has been tending to hundreds of displaced families who fled the camp alongside other charities. Many have taken shelter in nearby mosques, schools, and the Sidon municipality building. UNRWA has relocated some 1,200 people to schools in the area from a mosque near the camp's entrance.

“We left without our clothing and belongings. Children and women have no place to go,” Mariam Maziar, a Palestinian refugee who fled with her children told The Associated Press from a shelter in UNRWA's Nablus School in Sidon. “Don’t they feel remorse for what they’re doing to us? Where are we supposed to go? Our homes are destroyed.”

Ain el-Hilweh camp was established in 1948 to house Palestinians who were displaced when Israel was established.



Israeli Military Inquiry Says It ‘Failed to Protect’ Civilians on October 7

An aerial view shows members of the media during a visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in the aftermath of a deadly attack by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 15, 2023. (Reuters)
An aerial view shows members of the media during a visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in the aftermath of a deadly attack by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Israeli Military Inquiry Says It ‘Failed to Protect’ Civilians on October 7

An aerial view shows members of the media during a visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in the aftermath of a deadly attack by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 15, 2023. (Reuters)
An aerial view shows members of the media during a visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in the aftermath of a deadly attack by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 15, 2023. (Reuters)

The Israeli military drastically underestimated the capabilities of Hamas before its attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and "failed in its mission to protect Israeli civilians", a summary of an Israeli military investigation published on Thursday said.

The perception that Hamas was not interested in a full-scale conflict and that Israel would have ample warning if that changed went unchallenged for years, the summary said, resulting in a lack of preparedness and ability to respond to an attack.

"The belief was that Hamas could be influenced through pressures that would reduce its motivation for war, primarily by improving living conditions in the Gaza Strip," the report said.

The investigation looked at Israeli military strategy, battle behavior and intelligence before, during and after October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 48,000 people have been killed in Israel's assault on Gaza since then, according to Palestinian health officials. Much of the enclave has been laid waste and most of the territory's 2.3 million prewar population have been displaced multiple times, humanitarian agencies say. Around 400 Israeli soldiers have also been killed.

The military investigation was conducted as calls grow from within the Israeli opposition and civil society for a national inquiry into the government's failures on the deadliest single day in modern Israeli history.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a national inquiry would only be appropriate after the conclusion of the war.

The first phase of a ceasefire that began on January 19 is due to expire in two days' time.

The military investigation found Israel had focused its intelligence and military efforts on other fronts, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, and relied too heavily "on intelligence, barriers, and defensive measures alone", and was thus caught by surprise.

Military commanders did not perceive an urgent threat leading up to October 7 attacks and did not reinforce the troops defending the border.

A statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office on Thursday said that the military had not given the prime minister the findings of its investigations into the war.