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.



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Gaza as War Grinds Into the New Year

A Palestinian child wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian child wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Gaza as War Grinds Into the New Year

A Palestinian child wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian child wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israeli strikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, mostly women and children, officials said Wednesday, as the nearly 15-month war ground on into the new year with no end in sight.

One strike hit a home in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, the most isolated and heavily destroyed part of the territory, where Israel has been waging a major operation since early October, The Associated Press reported.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says seven people were killed, including a woman and four children, and that at least a dozen other people were wounded.
Another strike overnight into Wednesday in the built-up Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza killed a woman and a child, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.

A third strike early Wednesday in the southern city of Khan Younis killed three people, according to the nearby Nasser Hospital and the European Hospital, which received the bodies.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The war has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of them multiple times.
Hundreds of thousands are living in tents on the coast as winter brings frequent rainstorms and temperatures drop below 10 degrees Celsius at night. At least four infants have died of hypothermia.