Thousands of Gazan Workers Sent Back from Israel, Occupied West Bank, Witnesses Say

Israeli troops aim at Palestinian protester during confrontations with with them in Al-Bireh, following a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in the nearby occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on October 27, 2023. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
Israeli troops aim at Palestinian protester during confrontations with with them in Al-Bireh, following a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in the nearby occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on October 27, 2023. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
TT

Thousands of Gazan Workers Sent Back from Israel, Occupied West Bank, Witnesses Say

Israeli troops aim at Palestinian protester during confrontations with with them in Al-Bireh, following a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in the nearby occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on October 27, 2023. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
Israeli troops aim at Palestinian protester during confrontations with with them in Al-Bireh, following a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in the nearby occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on October 27, 2023. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)

Thousands of cross-border Gazan workers and laborers in Israel and the occupied West Bank were sent back to Gaza on Friday, Reuters journalists said.
Some of the Gazan workers returned through the Kerem Shalom crossing east of the Rafah border crossing between the besieged Gaza Strip and Egypt, they said.
The office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Thursday night: "Those workers from Gaza who were in Israel on the day of the outbreak of the war will be returned to Gaza."
Workers crossing into the Palestinian enclave said they have been detained and ill-treated by Israeli authorities after the Oct 7. Hamas attack on southern Israel. Some still had plastic stickers carrying numbers around their legs.
"We used to serve them, work for them, in houses, in restaurants, and in markets in return for the lowest prices and despite that we were humiliated," said Jamal Ismail, a worker from the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip.
Those from areas in northern Gaza would have to stay in the south after Israeli forces have completed cutting off roads late on Thursday, according to Palestinian officials.



Hezbollah Rocket Hits Near Tel Aviv after Beirut Airstrike

Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
TT

Hezbollah Rocket Hits Near Tel Aviv after Beirut Airstrike

Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

Lebanon's Hezbollah fired heavy rocket barrages at Israel on Sunday, with Israeli media reporting that a building had been hit near Tel Aviv, after a powerful Israeli airstrike killed at least 20 people in Beirut the day before.

Israel also struck Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, where intensified bombardment over the last two weeks has coincided with signs of progress in US-led ceasefire talks.

Hezbollah, which has previously vowed to respond to attacks on Beirut by targeting Tel Aviv, said it had launched two precision missiles at military sites in Tel Aviv and nearby.

There were no reports from Israel of damage to the sites, but broadcaster Kan showed an apartment damaged by rocket fire in Petah Tikvah, east of Tel Aviv. Footage broadcast by the medical service MDA showed cars ablaze in Petah Tikvah.

Hezbollah fired 170 rockets at Israel on Sunday, according to the Israeli military, which said many had been intercepted, but at least four people had been injured by rocket shrapnel.

Video obtained by Reuters showed a projectile exploding on impact as it smashed into the roof of a building in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya.

Israel warned on social media that it planned to target Hezbollah facilities in southern Beirut before strikes which security sources in Lebanon said demolished two apartment blocks.

On Saturday, it had carried out one of its deadliest and most powerful strikes on the center of Beirut, killing at least 20 people, Lebanon's health ministry said. The Israeli military did not comment on the strike or the target.

Israel went on the offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in September, pounding the south, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut's southern suburbs with airstrikes after nearly a year of hostilities ignited by the Gaza war.

Israeli attacks killed 84 in Lebanon on Saturday, taking the death toll to 3,754 and 15,626 injured since October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry reported on Sunday.

US CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL AWAITS ISRAEL'S RESPONSE

The Israeli offensive has uprooted more than 1 million people in Lebanon.

Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from its north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.

US mediator Amos Hochstein highlighted progress in negotiations during a visit to Beirut last week, before travelling to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, and then returning to Washington.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday said a US ceasefire proposal was awaiting final approval from Israel.

"We must pressure the Israeli government and maintain the pressure on Hezbollah to accept the US proposal for a ceasefire," he said in Beirut after meeting Lebanese officials.

Diplomacy has focused on restoring a ceasefire based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war. It requires Hezbollah to pull its fighters back around 30 km (19 miles) from the Israeli border, and the Lebanese army to deploy in the buffer zone.

The Lebanese army said on Sunday at least one soldier had been killed and 18 more injured in an Israeli strike that caused severe damage at an army center in Al-Amiriya near the southern city of Tyre.

The Israeli military said it regretted and was investigating the incident, and that it was fighting against Hezbollah, not the Lebanese Army.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said the attack "represents a direct bloody message rejecting all efforts to reach a ceasefire, strengthen the army’s presence in the south, and implement ... 1701".

Borrell said the EU was ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208 million) to support the Lebanese army.