According to the regional governor, Israeli attacks on Lebanon killed 38 people around the eastern town of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, and at dusk more attacks hit Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Israel and Hezbollah have clashed for more than a year in parallel with the Gaza war, but fighting has dramatically intensified since late September, with Israeli troops stepping up bombing of areas of southern and eastern Lebanon and carrying out land incursions into border villages.
About 40 Israeli attacks on Baalbek-Hermel governorate killed 38 people and wounded 54, governor Bachir Khodr said on X.
Israeli attacks also hit Hezbollah strongholds on the southern outskirts of the capital Beirut.
At least four attacks targeted the area on Wednesday after the Israeli army ordered residents to leave several locations.
There was no immediate report on casualties or details about what was hit.
The attack came shortly after Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem said he did not believe “political action” would bring an end to hostilities.
He said there could be a path to indirect negotiations if Israel stopped its attacks.
“When the enemy decides to stop the aggression, there is a path for negotiations that we have clearly defined: indirect negotiations through the Lebanese state and speaker (of parliament Nabih) Berri,” Qassem said.
“It is not our responsibility” to replace UNRWA’s aid operations
Meanwhile, the United Nations has responded to Israel’s decision to cut ties with the Palestinian Relief Agency (UNRWA) by saying that it has no responsibility to replace the agency’s operations in Gaza and the West Bank, signaling that this is a problem of Israel as an occupying power, according to an excerpt of the letter seen by Reuters.
Under a new law, Israel ended a 1967 cooperation agreement with UNRWA that provided for the agency’s protection, movement and diplomatic immunity. The law will also ban UNRWA operations in Israel from the end of January. UNRWA has said its operations in Gaza and the West Bank are now at risk of collapse.
“I would like to emphasize, in general, that it is not our responsibility to replace UNRWA, nor do we have the capacity to do so,” wrote UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ chief of staff, Courtenay Rattray, to a senior Israeli official. the foreign affairs official on Tuesday evening.
The mention of responsibility is a veiled reference to Israel’s obligations as an occupying power.
The UN considers Gaza and the West Bank to be territories occupied by Israel. International humanitarian law requires an occupying power to accept relief programs for people in need and facilitate them “with all means at its disposal” and guarantee food, medical care, hygiene and public health standards.
