Nordic Countries ‘Deeply Concerned’ about Israeli Legislation That Would Bar UNRWA from Operating

 A man works to remove an UNRWA-labelled vehicle after it was hit in an Israeli strike, according to Palestinian officials, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 23, 2024. (Reuters)
A man works to remove an UNRWA-labelled vehicle after it was hit in an Israeli strike, according to Palestinian officials, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 23, 2024. (Reuters)
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Nordic Countries ‘Deeply Concerned’ about Israeli Legislation That Would Bar UNRWA from Operating

 A man works to remove an UNRWA-labelled vehicle after it was hit in an Israeli strike, according to Palestinian officials, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 23, 2024. (Reuters)
A man works to remove an UNRWA-labelled vehicle after it was hit in an Israeli strike, according to Palestinian officials, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 23, 2024. (Reuters)

The five Nordic countries said Wednesday that they are “deeply concerned by the recent introduction of draft legal bills in the Knesset that, if adopted, would prevent the UNRWA from continuing its operations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.”

In a joint letter signed by the region’s foreign ministers, they said that if the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees “would no longer be able to exercise its core tasks” it could further destabilize the situation in the region, "and may fundamentally jeopardize the prospects for a two-state solution.”

In the letter, they “strongly urge Israel to ensure continued and unhindered humanitarian access” to Palestinian refugees for the UN body known as UNRWA.



Israel Has Attacked 55 Hospitals, Lebanon’s Health Minister Says

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli air strike on Khiam in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on October 25, 2024. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli air strike on Khiam in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on October 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Israel Has Attacked 55 Hospitals, Lebanon’s Health Minister Says

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli air strike on Khiam in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on October 25, 2024. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli air strike on Khiam in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on October 25, 2024. (AFP)

Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad said Friday that Israel has carried out attacks on 55 hospitals — 36 of which were directly hit — leaving 12 people dead and 60 wounded.

Abiad told reporters that eight hospitals have been closed while seven are still partially functioning.

He said that paramedic groups have been targeted in different areas, killing 151 people and wounding 212. Of the paramedics killed, eight remain in their ambulances in south Lebanon with Israel’s military preventing anyone from reaching them, he said.

"Attacks against the medical and paramedic sectors in Lebanon are direct and intentional aggressions," Abiad said, adding that Israel’s military claims to have intelligence information on what is happening in Lebanon, thus cannot say that these attacks happened by mistake.

"This is a war crime," Abiad said.