Nearly 29,000 Lebanese Flee Homes Near Israel Border, Says UN

Border fence between Lebanon and Israel (AFP)
Border fence between Lebanon and Israel (AFP)
TT

Nearly 29,000 Lebanese Flee Homes Near Israel Border, Says UN

Border fence between Lebanon and Israel (AFP)
Border fence between Lebanon and Israel (AFP)

Nearly 29,000 Lebanese civilians have fled communities near the border with Israel because of deadly artillery exchanges between Iran-backed Hezbollah and the Israeli army, a UN agency said Friday.

A total of 28,965 Lebanese have fled their homes, the International Organization for Migration said in an update, adding that the figure had risen by 37 percent since its last report on Tuesday.

Some have found refuge with family members farther from the border, while those who can afford it have been able to rent apartments on a short-term basis, according to AFP.

But with Lebanon in the grips of an economic crisis that has plunged most of the population into poverty, many are living in makeshift shelters in the south's larger towns.

In Lebanon, at least 58 people have been killed in the cross-border exchanges of fire, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including at least four civilians, one of them Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah.

On October 7, Hamas fighters poured from the Gaza Strip into Israel, killing 1,400 people, and kidnapping 229 more, according to Israeli officials.

In retaliatory Israeli air and artillery strikes, at least 7,326 people have been killed in Gaza, including 3,038 children, according to figures released by the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.

The death toll in Gaza is the highest there since Israel withdrew from the Palestinian territory in 2005.



Blinken Speaks to Israel’s Dermer about Humanitarian Situation in Gaza

 A man sits on rubble of a house destroyed in an Israeli strike at the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, on November 12, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
A man sits on rubble of a house destroyed in an Israeli strike at the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, on November 12, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
TT

Blinken Speaks to Israel’s Dermer about Humanitarian Situation in Gaza

 A man sits on rubble of a house destroyed in an Israeli strike at the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, on November 12, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
A man sits on rubble of a house destroyed in an Israeli strike at the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, on November 12, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized the importance of improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza in a meeting with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer in Washington on Monday, the State Department said.

Dermer updated Blinken on operational changes and policy decisions taken by Israel in response to a US letter sent in October, the department said in a statement on Tuesday.

Blinken "emphasized the importance of ensuring those changes lead to an actual improvement in the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, including through the delivery of additional assistance to civilians throughout Gaza," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in the statement.