Displacement used as ‘weapon of war’ in fight between Israel, Hezbollah

There is a massive humanitarian crisis, a displacement crisis in Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced in their own country. In fact, displacement has been used as a weapon of war by both sides.

The message from Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general yesterday to the Israelis is that you will not be able to return tens of thousands of residents to northern Israel as long as you continue to strike targets in Lebanon. And we will cause even further displacement by targeting deeper inside Israel.

So the displacement could last for weeks – if not months – if there is no solution to this crisis and the United Nations is warning that this country cannot handle the situation. The needs are enormous and there are just not enough resources to help the people.

Tens of thousands fleeing Israeli attacks arrive in northern Lebanon

Lebanon’s disaster management in the north says at least 58,898 displaced people fleeing Israeli attacks in southern and eastern parts of the country have sought refuge in the northern districts. It named the areas as Bcharre, El Batroun, El Koura, El Minieh-Dennie, Tripoli and Zgharta.

Only 14,267 of them are being housed at official shelters, it said.

The highest numbers of displaced people were reported in Tripoli and El Minieh-Dennie districts, with the figures reaching 15,973 and 13,554, respectively.

Lebanese authorities say more than 1.2 million people have been displaced in Lebanon, resulting in shelters reaching capacity and people increasingly having to sleep out in the open on the street or in public parks.

_{Displaced children sleep at a car park in the centre of Beirut on October 8}

Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon affected by Israeli attacks

The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) reports the Ein el-Hilweh camp close to Sidon, El-Buss in Tyre, and Beddawi north of Tripoli have been affected by Israeli air strikes.

The organisation’s operations remain limited in the Tyre area in the south after being suspended during Israeli attacks at the start of October that displaced UNRWA staff. Only some “limited water and sanitation services continue”, it said.

“Three Palestine refugee camps in the south and one camp in Beirut are significantly depopulated as people have fled to seek safety and protection elsewhere,” the agency said in its latest situation report.

The UNRWA opened 12 emergency shelters after the intensifying Israeli attacks on Lebanon, but one was closed on October 7. Three emergency shelters “have reached maximum capacity”, according to the agency, which said 4,570 internally displaced people are registered in shelters.

‘Going to be a struggle’ caring for 1.2 million displaced Lebanese: UN

The Israeli military issued warnings to people living in southern Lebanon saying they must evacuate or risk being killed. About 1.2 million people have fled heavy Israeli bombardment and evacuation orders, and taking care of them has become a major concern.

“It’s impossible to meet the needs of more than a million people who have been suddenly uprooted, displaced and dispossessed without additional resources coming in,” said Matthew Hollingworth of the UN’s World Food Programme.

“This was not a country that was well prepared because of all of the challenges that it’s faced over the past years. So, it’s going to be a struggle.”

EU opens ‘air bridge’ for aid to Lebanon

The European Union says it had launched a “humanitarian air bridge” to fly aid to Lebanon as fighting rages between Israel and Hezbollah. The European Commission said three initial flights were scheduled to carry supplies from Italy and Dubai to the conflict-racked country, with the first arriving in Beirut on Friday.

“The EU stands by the people affected by the crisis in Lebanon,” commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X. “From blankets to shelter kits and medicines. More will come.”

The EU last week said it was ramping up spending on humanitarian assistance to Lebanon by 30 million euros ($33m) in response to the unfolding violence.

The EU stands by the people affected by the crisis in Lebanon.

Today, we launch a Humanitarian Air Bridge with three flights loaded with in-kind emergency aid.

From blankets to shelter kits and medicines.

More will come. pic.twitter.com/2YsPA8GML0

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) October 9, 2024

Turkish navy ships bring humanitarian aid to Lebanon, evacuate citizens

Turkish navy ships docked at a port in Beirut as a part of a mission to bring humanitarian aid to Lebanon and evacuate Turkish citizens. Two of the ships, which can accommodate up to 2,000 passengers, carried up to 300 tons of food, tents and blankets, according to a statement from Turkey’s defence ministry.

Rear-Admiral Nihat Baran, commander of the evacuation mission, said the trip was ordered by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “to ensure that our citizens living in Lebanon are transferred to Turkey safely”.

_{Turkish citizens who have applied to leave Lebanon amid rising tensions, wait to board aTurkish Navy vessel.}

Hezbollah says it targeted Israeli position south of Maroun al-Ras

Hezbollah says it targeted Israeli soldiers with rocket fire south of Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon.

Israeli forces raised a flag in the town near the Blue Line on Tuesday. Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said on X the army “occupied” Maroun al-Ras and “destroyed the houses from which Hezbollah launched anti-tank missiles at the citizens of Israel”.

However, an official from the UNIFIL peacekeeping force reportedly said the Israeli army had withdrawn from the town after raising the flag.

Iran minister visits Saudi Arabia to focus on ‘stopping Israeli genocide’

The spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry says Tehran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, will arrive in Saudi Arabia later today with a focus on stopping the expanding war.

The goal is to further diplomatic efforts “to stop the Israeli regime’s genocide and aggression and to alleviate the pain and suffering of our brothers and sisters in Gaza and Lebanon”, Esmail Baghaei wrote in a post on X.

“Carnage and aggression must be stopped.”

Dozens of Iranian lawmakers demand a dash for nuclear bomb

Dozens of Iranian lawmakers wrote to the country’s Supreme National Security Council calling for urgent action towards developing nuclear weapons as Israeli threats rise in the region.

The 39 members of parliament argued Iran needs to “reevaluate its defence doctrine”, Hassan Ali Akhlaghi, one of the signatories, told the semi-official ISNA news website.

“Today, none of the international organisations or even European countries or the US are capable of controlling the Zionist regime, and the regime is committing any crimes it can, so we wrote this letter,” he said.

Supreme Leader Aytollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious ruling two decades ago saying nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islamic principles. But calls to shift that policy have gained more favour among hardliners in Tehran during growing hostilities across the region.

Iranian nuclear weapons might become a self-fulfilling prophecy :(

Turkey’s Erdogan calls Israel a ‘Zionist terrorist organisation’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel a “Zionist terrorist organisation” over its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, and repeated his criticism of Western powers – namely the United States – over the support given to Israel.

“History will never forgive those who applaud the monster responsible for the blood of tens of thousands of Palestinian children, women, civilians,” said Turkey’s leader.

Speaking to lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament, Erdogan also said the cross-border fire between Israel and Iran in recent days has heightened the risk of a regional conflict.

“Considering the atmosphere in our region, we believe that we need to talk more, we need reconciliation.”

AIPAC has US politicians ‘in a stranglehold’

Mohamad Elmasry, a professor of media studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, says that the US has enough leverage over Israel to control its policy in the region.

“It’s more a situation of the US being unwilling to exercise its leverage,” he told Al Jazeera.

Elmasy said that support for Israel is a “difficult calculation” for the US. “On the one hand, the US long ago married itself to Israel for strategic reasons – the US wants a strong ally in the Middle East,” he said, adding that US politicians have to contend with the power of the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC.

“They have US politics in a stranglehold and they are able to wield a lot of influence over individual politicians … there’s no politician that wants to draw the ire of AIPAC,” he said.

“There is no indication at this point that the US is going to change course.”

‘Unify efforts’: Hamas, Fatah leaders discuss Gaza war in Cairo meeting

Senior leaders of Hamas and the rival Palestinian group Fatah are meeting in Egypt’s capital to discuss Israel’s war on Gaza and national unity efforts.

Hamas said in a short statement the talks are focusing on “the aggression on the Gaza Strip, political and field developments, and to unify national efforts and ranks”.

Senior political bureau member Khalil al-Hayya is representing Hamas, while Fatah is represented by Mahmoud al-Aloul, deputy chairman of the Palestinian faction.

Hamas took over control of the Gaza Strip after a brief but bloody war with Fatah in 2007, while the Palestinian Authority continues to be dominated by Fatah. The two groups joined other Palestinian factions in Beijing in July to sign an agreement to work towards national unity.

Spanish PM calls Israeli attacks in Lebanon an ‘invasion’

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez describes Israel’s military offensives in Lebanon as an “invasion”, saying that the international community had to act.

“It is clear that there has been an invasion by a third country of a sovereign state such as Lebanon, and therefore, the international community cannot remain indifferent,” the Socialist premier told parliament.

“We denounced (this situation) in Ukraine, we also denounce it in Gaza and now we are also denouncing the invasion of Lebanon,” he added.

Sanchez is one of the most outspoken critics among European Union leaders of Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023,

He has angered Israel by saying he had “serious doubts that Israel is complying with international humanitarian law” in Gaza and under his watch Madrid in May recognised a Palestinian state.

Sanchez also expressed his regret at the “lack of agreement within the European Union” on the situation in the Middle East.

“I regret this because I believe that on these issues, we should be consistent not with our position, but consistent with the defence of international law and international humanitarian law,” he said.

MSF slams Israel’s latest evacuation orders for northern Gaza

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, is calling on Israel’s military to halt its evacuation orders for northern Gaza, saying the move will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian enclave.

The group noted that in this latest forced mass displacement, residents of Beit Hanoon, Jabalia and Beit Lahiya have been told to move south to the overcrowded, so-called humanitarian zone between Al-Mawasi and Deir el-Balah.

One million people are already living in “inhumane conditions” in the area, MSF said, adding that the zone remains unsafe for civilians and aid workers due to the continued Israeli attacks in the area.

“The latest move to forcefully and violently push thousands of people from northern Gaza to the south is turning the north into a lifeless desert while aggravating the situation in the south,” said Sarah Vuylsteke, MSF project coordinator in Gaza.

“Access to water, healthcare and safety is already almost non-existent, and the thought of more people fitting into this space is impossible to imagine,” she said. “People have been subjected to endless displacement and relentless bombing for the past 12 months. Enough is enough. This must stop now.”

• Nine members of the Farahat family were killed inside a house they were sheltering in. They were from Shujayea neighbourhood, east of northern Gaza City.
• Four members, including two children, of the al-Jamal family were killed in an air strike that targeted their home in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.
• A war-displaced family of four was also killed inside their tent in Nuseirat.
• A family of three, one child included, was killed in a bombing of their home in the nearby Bureij refugee camp.

• Several neighbourhoods of the cities of Ramallah and el-Bireh, where one young man whose identity is not yet known was arrested
• The town of Anabta, east of the city of Tulkarem, which caused clashes to erupt
• The city of Tulkarem
• The town of al-Eizariya, southeast of occupied Jerusalem
• The town of al-Khader, where Israeli forces fired tear gas and sound bombs
• The town of Sebastia, northwest of Nablus, where a young man was wounded when Israeli forces deployed a sound bomb amid clashes
• The town of Yatta, south of Hebron, where Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian man after opening fire on his vehicle.

At least 25 Palestinians detained in occupied West Bank

At least 25 Palestinians, including a journalist and former prisoners, have been detained by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank in the past 24 hours.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said in a joint statement cited by the official Wafa news agency that the Palestinians were detained during raids in Hebron, Qalqilya, Jenin, Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarem, Tubas and Bethlehem.