Lebanon's Hariri Presents New Government Line-up after Deadlock

Lebanese PM-designate Saad Hariri meets President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace on Wednesday. (Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanese PM-designate Saad Hariri meets President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace on Wednesday. (Dalati & Nohra)
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Lebanon's Hariri Presents New Government Line-up after Deadlock

Lebanese PM-designate Saad Hariri meets President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace on Wednesday. (Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanese PM-designate Saad Hariri meets President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace on Wednesday. (Dalati & Nohra)

Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri gave President Michel Aoun a line-up for a new cabinet on Wednesday after months of wrangling blocked a French plan to pull the country from financial crisis.

Without a credible government, there will be no bailout to save Lebanon, French President Emmanuel Macron has warned ahead of his visit to Beirut later this month.

Former colonial ruler France, spearheading foreign aid efforts, had sought to rally Lebanon’s leaders but grew frustrated as it got mired in fractious sectarian politics.

Lebanese politicians have failed to agree over portfolios, let alone enact reforms, even as the country hurtles towards what UN agencies have warned will be a “social catastrophe”.

Hariri, who was named premier for a fourth time in October, said the president would examine his list of 18 “non-partisan, expert” ministers and that the “atmosphere was positive”. Aoun’s office said the two had agreed at Wednesday’s meeting to try to bridge the gap between their proposals.

It was the first move towards attempting to break the logjam after weeks of inaction, as foreign reserves used to subsidize basic goods dwindle, triggering alarm.

Lebanon’s worst crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war has impoverished half the population and crashed the currency.

A senior Lebanese political source said there had been renewed pressure from abroad for the politicians to break the deadlock but it remained unclear if that would succeed.

The outgoing government quit after a massive explosion at Beirut port in August, which killed more than 200 people and devastated swathes of the capital.



94 Palestinians Killed in Gaza, Including 45 People Waiting for Aid

A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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94 Palestinians Killed in Gaza, Including 45 People Waiting for Aid

A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Airstrikes and shootings killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including 45 while attempting to get much-needed humanitarian aid, hospitals and the Health Ministry said Thursday.

Israel’s military did not have immediate comment on the strikes, The Associated Press reported.

Five people were killed while outside sites associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the newly created, secretive American organization backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip’s population, while 40 others were killed waiting for aid trucks in other locations across the Gaza Strip.

Dozens of people were killed in airstrikes that pounded the Strip Wednesday night and Thursday morning, including 15 people killed in strikes that hit tents in the sprawling Muwasi zone, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering, and a strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 57,000, including 223 missing people who have been declared dead. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death count but says that more than half of the dead are women and children.

The deaths come as Israel and Hamas inch closer to a possible ceasefire that would end the 21-month war.

Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. But Hamas’ response, which emphasized its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could materialize into an actual pause in fighting.

The Israeli military blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because it operates from populated areas. The military said it targeted Hamas members and rocket launchers in northern Gaza that launched rockets towards Israel on Wednesday.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.

The war has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting. More than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times. And the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, leaving hundreds of thousands of people hungry.