Denmark pledges additional support for UNRWA
Denmark has pledged to provide additional support of 10.2 million kroner ($1.4m) to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), adding that its annual contribution of 105 million kroner ($14.7m) to the UN agency’s budget will be disbursed immediately rather than divided over the year.
In a statement, the Danish government said extra contributions will be used to enhance the internal reform process of UNRWA as well as to support its work.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said enhanced funding is a sign of his country’s support for the UN agency’s work.
UNRWA has been providing support to Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East for more than 70 years, but on October 28, the Israeli Knesset banned its activities in Israel and areas under Israeli control.
Lebanon rejects Israeli forces remaining in five southern locations after February 18
Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, says Beirut rejects Israel’s demand to remain in five locations in the south after next week’s deadline to fully implement a fragile ceasefire.
The US, a key mediator, “informed me that the Israeli occupation will withdraw from villages it still occupies on February 18, but it will remain in five points,” Hezbollah ally Berri said in a statement.
“I informed them in my name and on behalf of President General Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Judge Nawaf Salam of our absolute rejection” of this proposal, he wrote.
Israel destroys several sites in southern Lebanon
The Israeli military said it has destroyed several sites in southern Lebanon, despite a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah.
A military statement alleged that the sites housed missile stockpiles, rockets, mortar shells, grenades, explosives, and firearms.
“During additional scans, concealed hideouts and multiple-barrel launchers aimed at Israeli territory were located,” the army said.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since November 27, ending months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that had escalated into a full-scale conflict last September.
Under the ceasefire deal, Israel was supposed to complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by January 26, but the deadline was extended to February 18 after Israel refused to comply.
As the new deadline approaches, Israel has signalled further delays. On Wednesday, the military said that it was “extending the implementation period of the agreement,” without providing a new timeline.
Lebanese officials have rejected extending the deadline for Israeli troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
France proposes plan to speed up Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanon
France has put together a proposal for UN peacekeepers, including French troops, to replace Israeli forces at key points by a February 18 deadline, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot says.
On Wednesday, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said the US had authorised a “long-term” Israeli troop presence in southern Lebanon after sources told the Reuters news agency Israel had sought an extension to a February 18 deadline to withdraw its forces from the area.
Under a truce brokered by Washington in November, Israeli troops were granted 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, where they had waged a ground offensive against fighters from the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah since early October.
Hezbollah combatants were to leave the zone, and Lebanese troops were to deploy in the area within the same period.
“We have worked to formulate a proposal that can satisfy the security expectations of Israel, which planned to stay longer at certain points on the Blue Line,” Barrot told reporters after a conference on Syria in Paris.
He said the proposal would see UN peacekeepers, including French forces, substituting Israeli forces at observation points. The UN has backed the idea, he said.
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