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Two Killed in Israeli Strike North of Lebanon’s Capital

An ambulance takes wounded to a hospital in Beirut. (AFP)
An ambulance takes wounded to a hospital in Beirut. (AFP)
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Two Killed in Israeli Strike North of Lebanon’s Capital

An ambulance takes wounded to a hospital in Beirut. (AFP)
An ambulance takes wounded to a hospital in Beirut. (AFP)

At least two people were killed in an Israeli strike near the Christian-majority town of Jounieh, north of Beirut, Lebanon's health ministry said on Saturday, in the first attack on the area by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military was looking into the report of the strike in Jounieh, a spokesperson said. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group that is fighting Israeli troops on Lebanon's southern border and whose top leadership has suffered blows from targeted Israeli strikes.

The health ministry said the Israeli strike targeted a car.

Two witnesses told Reuters they heard a small blast and saw a Honda sports utility vehicle travelling on the main highway south in the direction of Beirut begin to lose control.

The car stopped about 100 meters down the highway and a man and a woman ran out of the vehicle and into a grassy area on the side of the highway before another blast, the witnesses said.

One witness saw the charred remains of a person in the grassy area.

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UN Housing Expert Says Gaza Has Experienced an 'Unprecedented Rain of Destruction'

Palestinians rest under the rubble of their destroyed house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians rest under the rubble of their destroyed house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2024. (Reuters)
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UN Housing Expert Says Gaza Has Experienced an 'Unprecedented Rain of Destruction'

Palestinians rest under the rubble of their destroyed house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians rest under the rubble of their destroyed house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2024. (Reuters)

Gaza has experienced “a biblical, unprecedented rain of destruction” since Israel launched its military offensive following Hamas’ attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year, the UN housing expert said.

Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN independent investigator on the right to adequate housing, told reporters Friday that “the ferocity” of destruction in Gaza wasn’t seen in the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.

By January 2024, Rajagopal said, 60-70% of all homes in Gaza were destroyed, and in northern Gaza it was 82% of homes. “It is far worse than that right now,” particularly in the north which is approaching the 100% level, he said.

Israel’s UN Mission had no comment on the UN rapporteur’s statements.

Rajagopal said a recent report by the UN Development Program estimated that in May there were over 39 million tons of debris in Gaza, and he said that rubble is mixed with unexploded ordnance, toxic waste, asbestos from collapsed buildings, and other material.

“The groundwater pollution and the soil contamination are so catastrophic that we don’t know if they can ever be remedied in time for people to move back at least within this generation,” he said.

How long will it take to rebuild Gaza?

Rajagopal said first the debris has to be removed, secondly there must be financing, and then “there is another big elephant in the room, which is that no reconstruction can happen unless the occupation ends.” That’s because Israel has restricted building materials and equipment to rebuild, which it contends have dual uses, he said.

After the 2014 war in Gaza, Rajagopal said, less than 1,000 homes were built every year.

The UNDP report estimated that about 80,000 homes have been destroyed in the current war, so it would take about 80 years to rebuild if the occupation continues, he said.