Health sector in Gaza grappling with ‘critical shortages’, UN warns

UN spokesperson Farhan Haq says only five out of 486 health service points in Gaza were fully operational last month. Over half were entirely non-functional, while 233 were partially operating, he told reporters at a briefing earlier today.

“The health sector is grappling with critical shortages of medicines, supplies, fuel, food and water,” he warned.

Situation in Gaza City ‘absolutely terrifying’, UNRWA says

Louise Wateridge, senior emergency officer for UNRWA, says the daily Israeli bombardments are “absolutely terrifying”.

“What we’re seeing here is very miserable … people don’t have anywhere to shelter, they are in bombed-out buildings,” Wateridge told Al Jazeera from Gaza City, where she said an estimated 300,000 people remain.

“The rest of the population are under fabric, plastic sheeting, blankets, doing everything they can to keep out of the wind and the rain, but it’s almost impossible – there are very few aid supplies for them,” she added.

In the besieged northern area of Gaza, all requests have been denied or impeded since the start of November, she said. “This means we have not been able to facilitate any humanitarian aid.”

Israeli military bombs houses in Beit Lahiya, killing at least 4

The Israeli military has bombed two houses in the Beit Lahiya area of northern Gaza, killing at least four people, according to the Palestinian Information Center and the Quds News Network.

Several more people were injured in the attack, which targeted the Sahweil and Zaqout family homes.

Bodies of Palestinian family killed in Israeli attack on Gaza City retrieved from rubble

_{Palestinians carry the body of a girl who was killed on Wednesday when an Israeli bomb destroyed a school building where she and other members of her family were sheltering in Gaza City}

_{At least 12 people were killed in the early-morning strike on Gaza City’s al-Tabin school, the Wafa news agency reported}

Two Israeli teenagers refuse to enlist in army to protest war in Gaza

Soul Behar Tsalik and Iddo Elam, both 18, arrived at the Tel Hashomer base on Wednesday and declared their refusal to enlist in the military as conscientious objectors.

In a statement explaining his decision, Tsalik said “for the sake of humanity and the safety of all, this must stop”.

“As a result of the increased military presence in Gaza, an unprecedented number of lives have been lost: soldiers, fathers, mothers, hostages, children, and civilians – both Israelis and Palestinians,” he said.

“We must shift from violent confrontation to a political solution. Only then can we begin to build a lasting peace. No more sirens, no more kidnappings, no more wars, and no more death. All of this is possible, but only if we leave Gaza,” he added.

In his own statement, Elam said “this is the moment to refuse, to work against them and enlist for peace”.

“The future is in our hands. Change has to come from us. As long as we continue to enlist, follow orders and enact our government’s rotten goals, we will live in a reality of war, annexation and hate,” he said.

A solidarity demonstration by activists from Mesarvot, a refuser network, and the Young Communist League of Israel (Banki) was held outside the Tel Hashomer base as the pair entered.

Tsalik and Elam are expected to serve jail time in a military prison.

Today: Two Israeli conscientious objector, Soul Behar Tzalik and Iddo Elam, refused to enlist in the Israeli army in protest over the war of destruction in Gaza and the ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands. They are expected to be sentenced to military prison.@Mesarvot_ pic.twitter.com/II3qQEkuF7

— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) November 27, 2024

How Lebanon’s Sacrifices for Gaza Will Be Remembered

Rania Khalek hosts a special live episode of Dispatches with Lebanese journalist Ghadi Francis.

Main points on November 27th

• In its first statement since the ceasefire announcement, Hezbollah has proclaimed “victory” over Israel and says its fighters remain ready to deal with Israeli attacks.
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called the ceasefire “the first ray of hope” in the regional conflict after months of escalation and reiterated his calls for a truce in Gaza.
• Israeli forces have issued an overnight curfew in southern Lebanon, warning that travelling south of the Litani River is “forbidden” until 05:00 GMT Thursday.
• Israel has informed the International Criminal Court (ICC) it will appeal against arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over suspected war crimes in Gaza.
• Rights groups have strongly rejected a claim by France that Netanyahu has immunity from ICC prosecution as Israel has not signed up to the court’s statutes.
• The UN has sounded the alarm over the catastrophic situation for Palestinian civilians in Gaza’s north, which has been besieged for 55 days by Israeli forces amid an ongoing ground assault in the area.

Massive toll from a year of Israeli attacks on Lebanon

After more than a year of fighting, a huge disparity in the amount of death and destruction has become clear in Lebanon and Israel.

Sense of relief and steadfastness in southern Lebanon: Analyst

Hicham Safieddine, associate professor of history at the University of British Columbia, says now that fighting has ceased, people in southern Lebanon are processing “a lot of grief” both from the loss of their loved ones and “large-scale destruction” of their homes.

Israel’s strategy has been to “detonate and blow up wholesale villages”, Safieddine said, “because it couldn’t hold ground” in Lebanon, in contrast to the war in 2006.

While there is a “sense of relief” now in southern Lebanon, there is also a “sense of steadfastness and insistence and staying on the land, on preventing the Israelis from coming back again”, he said.

_{Mohammed Sleem hugs his daughter Menisa Sleem, as he meets her for the first time after two months in Tyre, Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah}

Cleaning up in Lebanon after months of Israeli attacks

‘Not a single home has been spared’: Tyre’s mayor

Hassan Dbouk, mayor of Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre, says entire neighbourhoods have been ravaged due to Israeli attacks and with them hundreds of homes and vital infrastructure.

“More than 50 buildings of three to 12 storeys have been completely destroyed by Israeli strikes”, while dozens of others have been partially damaged, he said.

“We can say that not a single home has been spared.”

Residents have begun to flood back into the city, home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But many leave at night because “there’s no more water in the whole city, and no electricity in the neighbourhoods hardest hit by the Israeli strikes,” Dbouk said.

On November 18, an Israeli strike targeted the Tyre water company, destroying a building and killing two workers. The strike cut off water to 30,000 registered customers, its chairman Walid Barakat, said.

Israeli military says 10 south Lebanese villages demarcate line of prohibited area

The Israeli military has again warned people in Lebanon not to return to their homes in the south of the country, this time publishing a map and naming specific villages along the border with northern Israel that are off-limits.

Naming the 10 Lebanese villages in a post on social media, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said the locations of the villages demarcate a line where residents are prohibited from entering.

“Until further notice, you are prohibited from moving south to the line of the following villages and their surroundings, and also within the villages themselves: Shebaa, al-Habbariyeh, Marjayoun, Arnoun, Yahmor, Qantara, Chaqra, Barashit, Yatar, al-Mansouri,” the spokesman said.

“Anyone who moves south of this line – puts himself in danger,” he said.

Looks like a buffer zone...


Not a straight line, more like a 10km buffer zone from Metula to the coast.

 
US envoy says idea Lebanon would agree to Israeli occupation is ‘fantasy’

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 broadcaster, US envoy Amos Hochstein has dismissed the idea that Israel could have achieved a better deal than the current ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Yes, there are fantasy deals that are utopia, where you get a ceasefire agreement with a security zone etc. But those won’t ever happen,” Hochstein said in the televised interview.

“There will never be an agreement that also has Israel as an occupying force in another country, that country will not sign that deal,” he said.

He added that if Israel insisted on a demilitarised zone inside Lebanon “then you are there as an occupier”.

Such a zone could be between two kilometres to five kilometres, he said, but added: “As every Israeli today knows, it’s no longer just about five or 10 kilometre ranges. It’s about much further”.

We'll see, as seen above, for now 10km occupied buffer zone in effect.

Israel’s movement restrictions in southern Lebanon mapped out

Israeli troops fire on Lebanese town, injuring at least 2

One day after a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah went into effect, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reports that two Lebanese citizens were wounded in Markaba when Israel fired on it.

Our correspondent on the ground has corroborated this information, saying the attack resulted in the injuries.

The wounded were transferred to a hospital and are being treated, NNA says.

Markaba is within the 10km occupied buffer zone.

Another Israeli attack on a Lebanese town

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) says that an Israeli tank targeted the outskirts of the town of Kfarchouba with two shells. This comes after at least two people were injured in the town of Markaba after Israeli forces fired on it.

Despite a ceasefire going into effect just over 24 hours ago, the Israeli army placed movement restrictions on southern Lebanon, saying anyone who violates them is in danger.

Kfarchouba is north east of Metula, outside the 'prohibited' zone.

Israel says it opened fire on ‘suspects’ in Lebanon’s south

Israel’s military says on X that in the last hour, “the arrival of suspects, some with vehicles, to several areas in southern Lebanon was detected, which constitutes a violation”. The army did not elaborate on the circumstances of this alleged violation of the ceasefire, now barely more than a day old.

It confirmed firing on targets in Lebanon, incidents we reported earlier in the towns of Markaba, where at least two people were injured, and Kfarchouba. The Israeli army “is deployed in southern Lebanon and enforces any violation of the ceasefire agreement”, it said.

Houthis to continue striking Israel, says group’s leader

Yemen’s Houthi rebels will keep up their attacks on Israel, their leader says, two days into the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

“The operations from the Yemeni front to support the Palestinian people with missiles and drones towards the Israeli enemy are continuing,” Abdel-Malik al-Houthi said on the rebels’ Al Masirah TV channel.

“I hope everyone in the army and among the people is aware of our responsibility, and with God’s help will do more … against the Israeli enemy,” he said. “We at the Yemeni front are doing our utmost to support the Palestinian people,” he added.

The Houthis have periodically fired drones and missiles at Israel since the outbreak of the war on Gaza. They have also targeted Israel-linked ships and other vessels in the Red Sea.

Israeli police arrest protesters at rally calling for deal to free Gaza captives


_{Families and supporters of captives held in Gaza held a protest on Wednesday calling on Israel’s government to reach a deal with Hamas for the release of captives and an end to war on the Palestinian territory}

_{Israeli police forcibly removed at least six people from the protest}

Gantz: Israel has abandoned the captives in Gaza

Former war cabinet minister Benny Gantz tells Israel’s Maariv newspaper that the captives still held in Gaza by Hamas and other groups have not yet been returned “for political reasons”.

“We cannot deny the fact that we failed to protect the abductees and abandoned them, and we must fix this”, he told the newspaper.

He also called for the urgent reaching of a deal to return the remaining captives, calling it the “only way” to ensure their safety.

At the same time, the influential Israeli politician called yesterday’s ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon “a mistake”. “A much stronger agreement could have been reached that would further reduce Hezbollah’s size, and the government made a mistake by choosing a forced ceasefire”, he said.

Out of power since resigning from the war cabinet in June, he has played antagonist to PM Netanyahu’s government in the media.

Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at New York Thanksgiving parade

New York City police say they arrested 21 people after protesters jumped barricades and sat down on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade route with Palestinian flags and a “Don’t Celebrate Genocide” banner.

They chanted “Free, free Palestine!” as a giant Ronald McDonald balloon bore down on them on Manhattan’s Sixth Avenue.

People protesting Israel’s war in Gaza also interrupted last year’s parade.


_{Police officers clash with protesters during the 98th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, US, November 28}

No calls for peace allowed during Chri$tma$.

UN: Israel blocking aid to north Gaza, threatening survival of 65,000-75,000 people

Israeli authorities denied 82 of 91 attempts by the UN to deliver aid to northern Gaza between early October and November 25.

As well as Israel denying 82 requests to deliver aid, Israel impeded nine other attempts to bring humanitarian supplies to the north of the territory, which has been under Israeli military siege and constant bombardment for more than 50 days.

“The conditions for survival are diminishing for the 65,000-75,000 people estimated to remain there,” the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said in a post on social media.

More than 2 million trapped with little food and no safe water in Gaza: UN

The UN sends a reminder that more than two million people are now trapped in the Gaza Strip with little access to food and no access to safe drinking water.

“Food is scarce, and famine is imminent. Most of Gaza’s water supply is unsafe to drink. With nowhere to go, families are living in abandoned homes or out in the open,” the UN said.