Biden Says ‘Working’ to Get People Back to Homes on Israel-Lebanon Border

US President Joe Biden (C) meets with his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 20, 2024. (AFP)
US President Joe Biden (C) meets with his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 20, 2024. (AFP)
TT

Biden Says ‘Working’ to Get People Back to Homes on Israel-Lebanon Border

US President Joe Biden (C) meets with his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 20, 2024. (AFP)
US President Joe Biden (C) meets with his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 20, 2024. (AFP)

US President Joe Biden said Friday he was working to allow people to return to their homes on the Israeli-Lebanon border, in his first comments since a wave of explosions targeting the Hezbollah party sent tensions soaring.

Biden added that it was crucial to keep pushing for a Gaza ceasefire to underpin regional peace, despite a media report that his administration had given up hope of securing a truce before he leaves office in January.

Speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting in the White House, Biden told reporters he wanted to "make sure that the people in northern Israel as well as southern Lebanon are able to go back to their homes, to go back safely."

"And the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, our whole team are working with the intelligence community to try to get that done. We're going to keep at it until we get it done, but we've got a way to go," Biden said.

It was Biden's first reaction since the violence shifted dramatically from Gaza to Lebanon, with thousands of Hezbollah operatives' pagers and walkie-talkies exploding earlier this week.

The blasts -- which Hezbollah blamed on Israel -- killed 37 people including children and wounded thousands more. Israel has not commented on the explosions.

Months of near-daily border clashes have killed hundreds in Lebanon, most of them fighters, and dozens in Israel, forcing thousands on both sides to flee their homes.

Biden also denied that a ceasefire to end Israel's war in Gaza following the Hamas October 7 attacks was unrealistic, following a Wall Street Journal report that officials believe it is now unlikely.

"If I ever said it's not realistic, we might as well leave. A lot of things don't look realistic until we get them done. We have to keep at it," Biden said.



UN Says Can Only Deliver as Much Aid to Gaza as Conditions Allow

 Palestinians walk among the rubble of houses destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid ceasefire negotiations with Israel, in Gaza City, January 15, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk among the rubble of houses destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid ceasefire negotiations with Israel, in Gaza City, January 15, 2025. (Reuters)
TT

UN Says Can Only Deliver as Much Aid to Gaza as Conditions Allow

 Palestinians walk among the rubble of houses destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid ceasefire negotiations with Israel, in Gaza City, January 15, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk among the rubble of houses destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid ceasefire negotiations with Israel, in Gaza City, January 15, 2025. (Reuters)

A short-term surge of aid deliveries into Gaza after a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group will be difficult if the deal does not cover security arrangements in the enclave, a senior UN official said on Wednesday.

Negotiators reached a deal on Wednesday for a ceasefire, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, after 15 months of conflict. It would include a significant increase of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, but it was unclear if any agreement would cover security arrangements.

"Security is not (the responsibility of) the humanitarians. And it's a very chaotic environment. The risk is that with a vacuum it gets even more chaotic," a senior UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. "Short of any arrangement, it will be very difficult to surge deliveries in the short term."

The United Nations has long described its humanitarian operation as opportunistic - facing problems with Israel's military operation, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza and more recently looting by armed gangs.

"The UN is committed to delivering humanitarian assistance during the ceasefire, just as we were during the period of active hostilities," said Eri Kaneko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"The removal of the various impediments the UN has been facing during the last year – which include restrictions on the entry of goods; the lack of safety and security; the breakdown of law and order; and the lack of fuel – is a must," she said.

The UN has been working with partners to develop a coordinated plan to scale up operations, Kaneko said.

600 TRUCKS A DAY

The ceasefire deal - according to the official briefed on talks - requires 600 truckloads of aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the initial six-week ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of the 600 aid trucks would be delivered to Gaza's north, where experts have warned famine is imminent.

"We are well-prepared, and you can count on us to continue to be ambitious and creative," said the UN official, speaking shortly before the deal was agreed. "But the issue is and will be the operating environment inside Gaza."

For more than a year, the UN has warned that famine looms over Gaza. Israel says there is no aid shortage - citing more than a million tons of deliveries. It accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which Hamas denies, instead blaming Israel for shortages.

"If the deal doesn't provide any agreement on security arrangements, it will be very difficult to surge assistance," said the official, adding that there would also be a risk that law and order would further deteriorate in the short term.

The United Nations said in June that it was Israel's responsibility - as the occupying power in the Gaza Strip - to restore public order and safety in the Palestinian territory so aid can be delivered.

Hamas came to power in Gaza in 2006 after Israeli soldiers and settlers withdrew in 2005, but the enclave is still deemed as Israeli-occupied territory by the United Nations. Israel controls access to Gaza.

The current war was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, Israel has laid much of Gaza to waste and the enclave's prewar population of 2.3 million people has been displaced multiple times, aid agencies say.