Outcry over Israel's ban on UNRWA, deadly bombings in Gaza

Israel faces an international outcry Tuesday after it passed a law banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from its territory, while deadly bombings continue in the besieged Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

An Israeli strike left more than 55 dead, according to emergency services, Tuesday morning in Beit Lahia, in the north of the Gaza Strip, where the army is conducting air and ground operations against Hamas.

The war that has been raging for more than a year in the Palestinian territory spread in September to Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas and supported like it by Iran.

Despite opposition from the United States and a warning from the UN Security Council, the Israeli parliament adopted by an overwhelming majority on Monday a text that prohibits “UNRWA activities on Israeli territory” including in East Jerusalem, occupied and annexed by Israel.

UNRWA buildings damaged by an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on February 15, 2024 © AFP – –

A second text prohibits Israeli officials from working with UNRWA and its employees, which is expected to significantly disrupt the activities of the agency, considered the “backbone” of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Israel strictly controls all international aid flows into Gaza, which is vital for its 2.4 million inhabitants hit by a humanitarian disaster.

Several European capitals have denounced this ban, as have the UN and the World Health Organization.

Israel has accused UNRWA employees of participating in the massacre perpetrated on its soil by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7, 2023.

Bombings on Tyre, in southern Lebanon, on October 28, 2024 © AFP – KAWNAT HAJU

The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, denounced this ban which he said would “worsen the suffering of the Palestinians”.

The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said fear “devastating consequences” if both laws are implemented.

– “Nothing left in the hospital” –

In the Gaza Strip, the Civil Defense announced that an Israeli strike on a five-story building had killed “more than 55” and injured dozens in Beit Lahia during the night.

Asked by AFP, the Israeli army said it was examining this information.

Palestinians carry the body of a child killed in a bombing on the village of al-Zawaydeh in the central Gaza Strip on October 29, 2024 © AFP – Eyad BABA

The bodies of 15 people have been brought to Kamal Adwan hospital, its director Houssam Abou Safia told AFP, adding that 35 wounded people, mostly children, were being treated at the hospital.

“We continue to receive martyrs and wounded,” he continued, “there is nothing left at Kamal Adwan hospital, except for the means to provide first aid, now that the army has stopped our medical team.”

“Most of the victims are “Women and children. People are trying to save the injured, but there are no hospitals or adequate medical care,” Rabie al-Chandagly, a 30-year-old man, told AFP.

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The Israeli army has been carrying out operations in northern Gaza since October 6, saying it wants to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping there. She said Tuesday that she had killed “about 40 terrorists” in the Jabalia area.

Palestinians pull a body out of the rubble after an Israeli bombardment in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on October 29, 2024 © AFP – –

Aerial bombardments also targeted the center of the territory and Rafah in the south, according to the army.

The war was triggered by the unprecedented attack carried out on October 7, 2023 by Hamas against Israel, which resulted in the death of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or killed in captivity.

In retaliation, Israel promised to annihilate the Palestinian movement in power in Gaza since 2007, and launched an offensive that killed at least 43,020 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas government's Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.

– Incursion in depth –

The war has been spreading to Lebanon for over a month, where Israel has been conducting a campaign of air strikes against Hezbollah since September 23, in parallel with a ground offensive launched on September 30 in the south of the country.

Israeli tanks penetrated six kilometers from the border on Tuesday, near the village of Khiam, their deepest incursion into Lebanese territory since the start of the war, according to the Lebanese news agency Ani.

The air force also bombed southern Lebanon, after strikes the day before on the coastal city of Tyre and on the east of the country, which left dozens dead.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) deployed in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border, October 29, 2024 © AFP – Rabih DAHER

In northern Israel, rockets fired from Lebanon have killed one person, according to emergency services.

The Israeli army says it wants to neutralize Hezbollah in southern Lebanon to allow the return to northern Israel of 60,000 residents displaced by incessant rocket fire since the start of the war in Gaza.

More than 1,700 people have been killed since September 23 in Lebanon, according to an AFP count based on official data.

After the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli strike on September 27, the Shiite Islamist movement announced on Tuesday that it had elected its number two, Naim Qassem.

Screenshot from Al-Manar TV showing Hezbollah's new leader Naim Qassem delivering a speech at an undisclosed location on October 15, 2024 © Al-Manar – –

After months of deadlock, Israel announced Monday that it had discussed with foreign negotiators gathered in Qatar a new framework for talks on the release of hostages held in Gaza.

Northern Israel and southern Lebanon © AFP – Jean-Michel CORNU, Cléa PECULIER

Of the 251 people kidnapped during the Hamas attack, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom have been declared dead by the Israeli army.

The head of Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, David Barnea, met with CIA chief Bill Burns and Prime Qatari minister to discuss this “new framework”, according to the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who specified that the discussions “would continue in the coming days between the mediators and Hamas”.

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