Wars, conflicts could become breeding ground for new superbugs
The ongoing wars and conflicts around the world, including in Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan and Ukraine, could become a breeding ground for new superbugs to develop, according to Ahmed Ogwell, vice president of global health strategy at the UN Foundation.
“The presence of humanitarian crisis, where you find people living in very unsavoury conditions – being forced to consume very unhealthy water or food, forced to breath very unhealthy air – the risks are twofold,” Ogwell told Al Jazeera.
“A situation like that becomes breeding ground for new superbugs to develop. When you start developing a certain coping mechanism, the bugs in you will also start adjusting to that new situation. If they get out in communities that are not under similar stressful circumstances, it becomes a new variant or a new type of resistance that developed with those bugs.
“The rest of the world immediately becomes at risk, whether it is a resistant variant or deadlier variant. And these environments, these conflict areas, can wreak havoc on the rest of the health system across the world.”
Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon could mark point of no return
If Israel’s military does go into Lebanon on the ground, it’s going to be entering a very different fight. A far more difficult and challenging fight. Hezbollah is not Hamas.
It would be entering terrain Hezbollah knows very well. The Israeli military has learned about its challenges in the past – in 2006 certainly.
There is still talk about a potential temporary ceasefire. Even though there has been pushback from Netanyahu and from his office … we understand that Netanyahu has been part of this conversation since the beginning.
I think if we do see a ground invasion, and it’s still a big if, then we are entering another phase of this war. And it might well be the point of no return.
A ground invasion in Lebanon ‘would be a humanitarian catastrophe’: NGO
A ground invasion in Lebanon “would be a humanitarian catastrophe”, international nongovernmental organisation Action For Humanity has said in a statement, adding that it called on leaders to take a stand against such a move at the UN General Assembly.
“We are calling on the US and Western governments to do more to stop Gaza being erased and Lebanon being dragged into a bloody war,” Chief Executive Officer Othman Moqbel said.
“For the sake of the entire region and for the sake of humanity, we need to halt all arms to Israel and bring about a ceasefire.”
Ben-Gvir threatens to quit if permanent ceasefire is reached with Hezbollah
The far-right partner in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has threatened to quit the coalition if a permanent ceasefire is reached with Hezbollah.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Jewish Power party, threatened to suspend cooperation with the coalition if a temporary deal is reached. “If a temporary ceasefire becomes permanent, we will resign from the government,” he said.
It was the latest sign of displeasure from Netanyahu’s hardline government towards international ceasefire efforts. If Ben-Gvir leaves the coalition, Netanyahu would lose his parliamentary majority and could see his government come toppling down, though opposition leaders have said they would offer support for a ceasefire deal.
