Lebanon contacts US, France to avert Israeli attack on Beirut: Report
Lebanese leaders have been in intensive contact with Washington and Paris to prevent Israel from bombing Beirut, a news report says.
The AFP news agency, quoting unnamed Lebanese officials, said the calls come after heavy Israeli strikes on the country at the weekend.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam “made diplomatic contact with France and the United States … as well as with the UN to achieve de-escalation following Israeli threats to target Beirut”, one official said on condition of anonymity.
‘Very clear’ Gaza ceasefire must return as civilian deaths climb: Germany
Civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip are “extremely worrying” as Israel’s military continues to attack the Palestinian territory, says Germany.
“It is now very clear we must quickly return to negotiations and to the ceasefire that was in place,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Christian Wagner said in Berlin.
Germany also denounced the Israeli security cabinet’s decision to recognise 13 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, he added. “We strongly condemn this decision. It promotes an expansive settlement policy that actively undermines the division of the two-state solution.”
‘Children are being killed and the women slaughtered’
Palestinian Nour Issa Mekawi describes the chaotic situation as she fled her Rafah home in Gaza after being ordered to leave and then bombed by Israeli drones while fleeing.
“We were shocked to see the amount of missiles and quadcopters attacking us. I have seen so many innocent martyrs all over the place. So many others were killed in their cars,” she told Al Jazeera.
“Where are the Arab countries? They have let us down. The children are being killed and the women slaughtered.”
‘Unprecedented’ approvals for settler homes in occupied West Bank
An Israeli anti-settlement group says there has been an “unprecedented surge” in approvals for new settler homes in the occupied West Bank since US President Donald Trump returned to office.
The Peace Now group, which closely tracks settlement growth, said plans for 10,503 housing units have advanced since the start of the year, compared to just 9,971 in all of 2024. Another 1,344 homes are set to be approved on Wednesday.
During his first term, Trump strongly backed Israel’s claims to territories seized in war, at times upending decades of American foreign policy. Previous US administrations have admonished Israel over settlement expansion while taking little action to curb it.
Israel has built more than 100 settlements that are now home to 700,000 settlers with Israeli citizenship. The three million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank live under Israeli military rule, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority administering population centres.
