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Lebanon Awaits Extension of UNIFIL Mandate, STL Ruling

UNIFIL peacekeepers watch as Israeli workers build a wall near the border with Israel, near the village of Naqoura, Lebanon March 6, 2018. (Reuters)
UNIFIL peacekeepers watch as Israeli workers build a wall near the border with Israel, near the village of Naqoura, Lebanon March 6, 2018. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Awaits Extension of UNIFIL Mandate, STL Ruling

UNIFIL peacekeepers watch as Israeli workers build a wall near the border with Israel, near the village of Naqoura, Lebanon March 6, 2018. (Reuters)
UNIFIL peacekeepers watch as Israeli workers build a wall near the border with Israel, near the village of Naqoura, Lebanon March 6, 2018. (Reuters)

Lebanon’s political circles are awaiting the extension of the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

The UN Security Council is expected to decide on the extension at the end of August, amid mounting tension between the United States and Iran, through Tehran’s strategic ally – Hezbollah.

In parallel, Beirut is awaiting the ruling of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) on July 22, on the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005 and the start of the trial of the defendants in the two assassination attempts against MP Marwan Hamadeh and former deputy Prime Minister Elias Al-Murr, as well as the assassination of former Secretary General of the Lebanese Communist Party George Hawi. The ruling and trial are significant because all suspects are Hezbollah members.

The extension of UNIFIL’s mandate coincides with Washington’s hinting that it may refrain from financing the peacekeeping forces’ needs to support the Lebanese army in the implementation of resolution 1701, which may lead to the decrease in the number of UN troops in southern Lebanon.

In this regard, western diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Washington has repeatedly called for expanding UNIFIL’s powers and promoting its role in the South.

According to the diplomatic sources, Washington believes that it was no longer possible to maintain the “cohabitation” between the international forces and the Lebanese army on one side and Hezbollah, which is impeding the mission of UNIFIL and preventing its troops from entering villages and towns, on the other.

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Oxfam: Only 12 Trucks Delivered Food, Water in North Gaza Governorate since October

Israel's government has faced accusations that it systematically hinders aid reaching Gaza. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP/File
Israel's government has faced accusations that it systematically hinders aid reaching Gaza. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP/File
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Oxfam: Only 12 Trucks Delivered Food, Water in North Gaza Governorate since October

Israel's government has faced accusations that it systematically hinders aid reaching Gaza. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP/File
Israel's government has faced accusations that it systematically hinders aid reaching Gaza. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP/File

Just 12 trucks distributed food and water in northern Gaza in two-and-a-half months, aid group Oxfam said on Sunday, raising the alarm over the worsening humanitarian situation in the besieged territory.
"Of the meager 34 trucks of food and water given permission to enter the North Gaza Governorate over the last 2.5 months, deliberate delays and systematic obstructions by the Israeli military meant that just twelve managed to distribute aid to starving Palestinian civilians," Oxfam said in a statement, in a count that included deliveries through Saturday.
"For three of these, once the food and water had been delivered to the school where people were sheltering, it was then cleared and shelled within hours," Oxfam added.
Israel, which has tightly controlled aid entering the Hamas-ruled territory since the outbreak of the war, often blames what it says is the inability of relief organizations to handle and distribute large quantities of aid, AFP said.
In a report focused on water, New York-based Human Rights Watch on Thursday detailed what it called deliberate efforts by Israeli authorities "of a systematic nature" to deprive Gazans of water, which had "likely caused thousands of deaths... and will likely continue to cause deaths."
They were the latest in a series of accusations leveled against Israel -- and denied by the country -- during its 14-month war against Palestinian Hamas group.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that claimed the lives of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
'Access blocked'
Since then, Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 45,000 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
Oxfam said that it and other international aid groups have been "continually prevented from delivering life-saving aid" in northern Gaza since October 6 this year, when Israel intensified its bombardment of the territory.
"Thousands of people are estimated to still be cut off, but with humanitarian access blocked it's impossible to know exact numbers," Oxfam said.
"At the beginning of December, humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza were receiving calls from vulnerable people trapped in homes and shelters that had completely run out of food and water."
Oxfam highlighted one instance of an aid delivery in November being disrupted by Israeli authorities.
"A convoy of 11 trucks last month was initially held up at the holding point by the Israeli military at Jabalia, where some food was taken by starving civilians," it said.
"After the green light to proceed to the destination was received, the trucks were then stopped further on at a military checkpoint. Soldiers forced the drivers to offload the aid in a militarized zone, which desperate civilians had no access to."
The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Thursday asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to assess Israel's obligations to assist Palestinians.