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Britain Pledges Additional Aid to Gaza

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron visits Kibbutz Beeri, November 23, 2023. REUTERS
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron visits Kibbutz Beeri, November 23, 2023. REUTERS
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Britain Pledges Additional Aid to Gaza

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron visits Kibbutz Beeri, November 23, 2023. REUTERS
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron visits Kibbutz Beeri, November 23, 2023. REUTERS

Britain will provide another 30 million pounds ($37.38 million)of humanitarian aid to Gaza, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Friday as he travels to the occupied Palestinian territories on the second day of his visit to the region.
Cameron will meet Palestinian leaders and aid agencies, said Reuters.
On Thursday he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as fighting between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas continued before a four-day truce was due to begin and ahead of the expected release of 13 Israeli women and child hostages.
"We are hopeful that today will see the release of hostages, and I am urging all parties to continue to work towards the release of every hostage. A pause will also allow access for life-saving aid to the people of Gaza," Cameron said in a statement.
"I am proud that a fourth UK flight carrying critical supplies landed in Egypt today, and I can announce new £30m of funding which will be spent on vital aid such as shelter and medical provisions," he said.
The new pledge will double the amount of additional aid Britain has committed to Gaza since the conflict began in October.

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Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
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Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)

Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who enjoys US approval and showing the diminished sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel.
The outcome reflected shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.
The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with deeply divided factions unable to agree on a candidate able to win enough votes in the 128-seat parliament.
Aoun fell short of the 86 votes needed in a first round vote, but crossed the threshold with 99 votes in a second round, according to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, after lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shiite ally the Amal Movement backed him.
Momentum built behind Aoun on Wednesday as Hezbollah's long preferred candidate, Suleiman Franjieh, withdrew and declared support for the army commander, and as French envoy shuttled around Beirut, urging his election in meetings with politicians, three Lebanese political sources said.
Aoun's election is a first step towards reviving government institutions in a country which has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Aoun left office.
Lebanon, its economy still reeling from a devastating financial collapse in 2019, is in dire need of international support to rebuild from the war, which the World Bank estimates cost the country $8.5 billion.
Lebanon's system of government requires the new president to convene consultations with lawmakers to nominate a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be protracted as factions barter over ministerial portfolios.
Aoun has a key role in shoring up a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel which was brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.
Aoun, 60, has been commander of the Lebanese army since 2017.