Haniyeh to Visit Beirut, Meet Top Officials

Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh (FILE PHOTO - Anadolu Agency)
Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh (FILE PHOTO - Anadolu Agency)
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Haniyeh to Visit Beirut, Meet Top Officials

Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh (FILE PHOTO - Anadolu Agency)
Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh (FILE PHOTO - Anadolu Agency)

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh will carry out a two-day visit to Beirut on Sunday, as part of a foreign tour that will take him to a number of Arab countries, the Palestinian movement said in a statement.

Haniyeh is visiting Beirut alongside a number of Hamas officials. He is expected to hold talks with a number of Lebanese officials, including President Michel Aoun, caretaker Prime-Minister Hassan Diab and Speaker Nabih Berri, as well as leaders of Palestinian factions in Lebanon.

The Hamas statement said that during his meetings with officials in Beirut, Haniyeh will discuss last month’s fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the plight of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

Haniyeh was last in Beirut in September 2020 when he participated by videoconference in a meeting of Palestinian leaders hosted by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
Haniyeh was last in the country in 1993.

The Hamas leader has recently visited Egypt, Morocco, and Mauritania with hopes to revive support for the Palestinian cause and rally support against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

He resides in the Gulf state of Qatar.



Gaza Rescuers Say Israeli Strike on Hospital Kills 7

Damage at the Al-Wafaa Hospital in central Gaza, pictured on December 29 - AFP
Damage at the Al-Wafaa Hospital in central Gaza, pictured on December 29 - AFP
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Gaza Rescuers Say Israeli Strike on Hospital Kills 7

Damage at the Al-Wafaa Hospital in central Gaza, pictured on December 29 - AFP
Damage at the Al-Wafaa Hospital in central Gaza, pictured on December 29 - AFP

Gaza's civil defense agency said an airstrike hit a hospital Sunday, killing at least seven people, while Israel said it had targeted militants at the no longer functioning facility.

"Seven martyrs and several injured people, including critical cases, have been recovered following the Israeli strike on the upper floor of Al-Wafaa Hospital in central Gaza City," a civil defense agency statement said.

Israel's military said it had carried out a "precise strike" targeting members of Hamas's aerial defense unit operating from a "command and control center in a building that served in the past as the Al-Wafaa hospital".

The health ministry in Gaza said the hospital was still in use.

"The Al-Wafaa Hospital is partially operational, providing care to patients with physical disabilities," the ministry's director general, Munir al-Barsh, told AFP.

"The hospital had been rehabilitated and was getting ready to receive patients. Had it not been targeted by Israeli shelling today, it would have been ready to fully reopen in the next few days," he said.

The strike on Al-Wafaa Hospital came a day after the military ended a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, an assault the World Health Organization reported left the facility empty of patients and staff.

The military also detained the hospital's chief, Hossam Abu Safiyeh, saying he was suspected of being a Hamas militant.

Since October 6, Israel's operations in the Palestinian territory have focused on northern Gaza, where it says its land and air offensive aims to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

However, the military has also carried out airstrikes and shelling in other areas of Gaza as it presses on with its campaign against the militants.