WHO Head Concerned at Attacks on Gaza’s Rafah 

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 12, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 12, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Head Concerned at Attacks on Gaza’s Rafah 

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 12, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 12, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday reiterated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and expressed particular concern at Israeli attacks on Rafah where most of the enclave's inhabitants have fled.

Israeli airstrikes overnight killed 48 people in Rafah, local health authorities said.

Ghebreyesus said only 15 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza were "still partially or minimally functioning" and that aid workers were doing their best in impossible circumstances.

Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai, he said the WHO, the UN's health agency, continued to call for safe access for humanitarian personnel and supplies, for Hamas to release hostages, and for a ceasefire.

The war in Gaza began on Oct. 7 when Hamas fighters stormed border fences to attack Israeli towns, killing 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's four-month war in Gaza has killed more than 28,000 people, say health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave. The UN has said more than 85% of Gazans have been displaced and that Gaza faces famine, with one in five children under five acutely malnourished.

Last week, Israel said it planned to assault Rafah, the last relatively safe place in the enclave, to which more than one million displaced people had fled, camping on the street, in empty lots and on the beach.

"I am especially concerned by the recent attacks on Rafah where the majority of Gaza's population has fled the destruction," he said.

"So far, we have delivered 447 metric tons of medical supplies to Gaza, but it's a drop in the ocean of need, which continues to grow every day," he said.



US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
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US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)

The United States is deferring the removal of certain Lebanese citizens from the country, President Joe Biden said on Friday, citing humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon amid tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

The deferred designation, which lasts 18 months, allows Lebanese citizens to remain in the country with the right to work, according to a memorandum Biden sent to the Department of Homeland Security.

"Humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon have significantly deteriorated due to tensions between Hezbollah and Israel," Biden said in the memo.

"While I remain focused on de-escalating the situation and improving humanitarian conditions, many civilians remain in danger; therefore, I am directing the deferral of removal of certain Lebanese nationals who are present in the United States."

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire since Hezbollah announced a "support front" with Palestinians shortly after its ally Hamas attacked southern Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, triggering Israel's military assault in Gaza.

The fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 100 civilians and more than 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to a Reuters tally, and led to levels of destruction in Lebanese border towns and villages not seen since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

On the Israeli side, 10 Israeli civilians, a foreign agricultural worker and 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Tens of thousands have been evacuated from both sides of the border.