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Lebanon Goes Into 3-Day Lockdown

A street vendor wearing a mask to help stop the spread of the coronavirus sells face masks in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A street vendor wearing a mask to help stop the spread of the coronavirus sells face masks in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Lebanon Goes Into 3-Day Lockdown

A street vendor wearing a mask to help stop the spread of the coronavirus sells face masks in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A street vendor wearing a mask to help stop the spread of the coronavirus sells face masks in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

The Lebanese government has imposed a three-day curfew starting Saturday until Tuesday, to discourage family get-togethers over the Easter holiday in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Churches can open at up to 30 percent capacity during the Easter weekend lockdown, with residents needing permits to visit them, similar to trips to the supermarkets and pharmacies.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Forces party’s media department said in a statement that LF chief Samir Geagea has tested positive for the COVID-19 disease.

It said his wife MP Strida Geagea has tested negative.

The statement added that former Minister Ghassan Hasbani, an LF member, was infected as well.

On Friday, the Health Ministry announced 2,963 new coronavirus infections, raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 474,925.

It said that Lebanon also recorded 60 deaths.

Abdul Rahman Al-Bizri, the head of Lebanon’s national committee for the coronavirus vaccination, announced Friday that Lebanon is set to receive another 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine within 3 months.

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Pope Calls Situation in Gaza 'Shameful'

Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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Pope Calls Situation in Gaza 'Shameful'

Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Pope Francis on Thursday stepped up his recent criticisms of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave "very serious and shameful.”

In a yearly address to diplomats delivered on his behalf by an aide, Francis appeared to reference deaths caused by winter cold in Gaza, where there is almost no electricity.

"We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians," the text said, according to Reuters.
"We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country's energy network has been hit."

The pope, 88, was present for the address but asked an aide to read it for him as he is recovering from a cold.

The comments were part of an address to Vatican-accredited envoys from some 184 countries that is sometimes called the pope's 'state of the world' speech. The Israeli ambassador to the Holy See was among those present for the event.

Francis, leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts.
But he has recently been more outspoken about Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas, and has suggested
the global community should study whether the offensive constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.
An Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff in December for that suggestion.

The pope's text said he condemns anti-Semitism, and called the growth of anti-Semitic groups "a source of deep concern."
Francis also called for an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, which has killed tens of thousands.