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French Foreign Minister in Beirut Despite Israeli Air Strikes

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (AFP)
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (AFP)
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French Foreign Minister in Beirut Despite Israeli Air Strikes

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (AFP)
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (AFP)

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in Beirut on Sunday night, his ministry said, making him the first high-level foreign diplomat to visit since Israeli air strikes intensified across the country.
Barrot will hold talks with Lebanese and UN officials. His arrival as the foreign ministry announced that a second French national had been killed in Lebanon, though details were unclear.
“We confirm the death of a second French national,” the French ministry said Sunday, adding that further details will be supplied later.
In Beirut, Barrot will hold talks with Lebanese officials over the current situation and provide French support, particularly humanitarian support, Lebanon’s National News Agency, NNA, reported.
Speaking with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Saturday, Barrot said Paris wanted “an immediate halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon” and was “opposed to any ground operation.”
Also on Saturday, French Prime Minister Michel Barnier called the situation in Lebanon “extremely serious” and said he was “concerned for the safety” of French citizens there.
But the foreign ministry has so far stopped short of urging French nationals to leave Lebanon.
President Emmanuel Macron’s special Lebanon envoy and former defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian visited Beirut last week, his sixth trip to the country, urging political forces to come together to elect a president after a long delay.
Le Drian has not spoken to the press about the visit.

 

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Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)

An Israeli rights group said Monday that more than a quarter of all Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel had contracted scabies since an outbreak was identified in May, and accused the prison authority of improper care and prevention.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said that more than 2,800 prisoners had caught the rash-like infection, with more than 1,700 still actively infected. The outbreak was seen in five different detention facilities, the group said. It was citing figures it said came from the Israel Prison Service.

The group said it filed a legal petition calling on the prison service “to eradicate the scabies epidemic,” accusing the authorities of failing “to implement widely recognized medical interventions necessary to contain the outbreak.”

It said that it halted the legal proceedings after it received a commitment from the prison service to address the outbreak. The prison service said the court had cancelled the petition because the prisons had shown they were dealing with the outbreak in a “systematic and thorough” way.

Nadav Davidovich, an Israeli public health expert who wrote a medical analysis for the group’s court proceedings, said the outbreak was a result of overcrowding in prisons and apparent neglect from prison authorities. He said such outbreaks could be prevented if prisoners were held “in more reasonable conditions.” If the first infections were treated as needed, such an outbreak could have been avoided, he said.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel also said that the Israel Prison Service had cited scabies as a reason for postponing lawyers' visits and court appearances for prisoners. It said those steps “violate prisoners’ rights and serve as punitive measures rather than public health responses.”

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prisons, has boasted about hardening conditions to the bare minimum required by law.