EU Announces Extra 30 Mln Euros Humanitarian Aid for Lebanon

A woman walks past damaged buildings and debris in the aftermath of a strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A woman walks past damaged buildings and debris in the aftermath of a strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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EU Announces Extra 30 Mln Euros Humanitarian Aid for Lebanon

A woman walks past damaged buildings and debris in the aftermath of a strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A woman walks past damaged buildings and debris in the aftermath of a strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

The European Commission announced on Thursday an extra 30 million euros ($33.1 million) in humanitarian aid for Lebanon, which has been hit by clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.

"I am extremely concerned by the constant escalation of tensions in the Middle East. All parties must do their outmost to protect the lives of innocent civilians," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

This comes in addition to the 10 million euros already announced on Sept. 29 and brings total EU humanitarian assistance to the country to over 104 million euros this year.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel has mostly concentrated its airstrikes in south and eastern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hezbollah has a strong presence, but its attacks have spanned the entire country and killed many civilians.



Lebanese Red Cross Says Israeli Strike Killed 4 of its Medics, Lebanese Soldier

Smoke billows after Israeli Air Force airstrikes in southern Lebanon villages, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Sasa, northern Israel, October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
Smoke billows after Israeli Air Force airstrikes in southern Lebanon villages, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Sasa, northern Israel, October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
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Lebanese Red Cross Says Israeli Strike Killed 4 of its Medics, Lebanese Soldier

Smoke billows after Israeli Air Force airstrikes in southern Lebanon villages, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Sasa, northern Israel, October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
Smoke billows after Israeli Air Force airstrikes in southern Lebanon villages, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Sasa, northern Israel, October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

The Lebanese Red Cross said Thursday that an Israeli strike killed four of its paramedics and a Lebanese army soldier as they were evacuating wounded people from the south.

It said the convoy near the village of Taybeh, which was accompanied by Lebanese troops, was targeted despite coordinating its movements with UN peacekeepers.

An escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah over the past two weeks has led to clashes between the two sides inside Lebanon.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel at the start of the Gaza war in support of Hamas, causing the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents whom Israel says need to return home.

In Lebanon, nearly 1,900 people have been killed and more than 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in nearly a year of cross-border fighting, with most of the deaths occurring in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese government statistics.

More than a million Lebanese have been forced to flee their homes.

In a separate development, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of villages and towns in southern Lebanon that are north of a United Nations-declared buffer zone established after the 2006 war. The warnings issued Thursday signaled a possible broadening of Israel’s incursion into southern Lebanon, which until now has been confined to areas close to the border.

At least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it says is a limited ground incursion earlier this week.