Israel Issues New Evacuation Orders for an Area in North Gaza

A Palestinian woman stands on top of debris in Deir el-balah in the central Gaza Strip, on August 7, 2024. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
A Palestinian woman stands on top of debris in Deir el-balah in the central Gaza Strip, on August 7, 2024. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
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Israel Issues New Evacuation Orders for an Area in North Gaza

A Palestinian woman stands on top of debris in Deir el-balah in the central Gaza Strip, on August 7, 2024. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
A Palestinian woman stands on top of debris in Deir el-balah in the central Gaza Strip, on August 7, 2024. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders Wednesday for an area in northern Gaza that was heavily bombed at the start of the war some 10 months ago.
The military said it would respond to a Hamas rocket attack from the Beit Hanoun area the day before and urged residents to relocate to Gaza City, large areas of which have been destroyed.
Beit Hanoun, which is close to the border, was one of the first targets of the massive bombardment and ground invasion launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the war.
Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to areas where past air and ground operations caused widespread destruction, as militants have regrouped. The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced within the narrow coastal strip since the start of the war — often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are sheltering in crowded tent camps.



Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister Visits Military Positions in the Country's South

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)
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Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister Visits Military Positions in the Country's South

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has begun a tour of military positions in the country’s south, almost a month after a ceasefire deal that ended the war between Israel and the Hezbollah group that battered the country.
Najib Mikati on Monday was on his first visit to the southern frontlines, where Lebanese soldiers under the US-brokered deal are expected to gradually deploy, with Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops both expected to withdraw by the end of next month, The Associated Press said.
Mikati’s tour comes after the Lebanese government expressed its frustration over ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights in the country.
“We have many tasks ahead of us, the most important being the enemy's (Israel's) withdrawal from all the lands it encroached on during its recent aggression,” he said after meeting with army chief Joseph Aoun in a Lebanese military barracks in the southeastern town of Marjayoun. “Then the army can carry out its tasks in full.”
The Lebanese military for years has relied on financial aid to stay functional, primarily from the United States and other Western countries. Lebanon’s cash-strapped government is hoping that the war’s end and ceasefire deal will bring about more funding to increase the military’s capacity to deploy in the south, where Hezbollah’s armed units were notably present.
Though they were not active combatants, the Lebanese military said that dozens of its soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes on their premises or patrolling convoys in the south. The Israeli army acknowledged some of these attacks.