Israel, Lebanon officials indicate ceasefire deal is close
- Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon says ceasefire deal to end fighting with Hezbollah is “moving forward”; Israeli cabinet will meet to discuss on Monday or Tuesday.
- UN’s Palestinian refugee agency says half a million people are threatened by sewage flood amid Gaza’s rainy season, and cold temperatures will take a toll on thousands of malnourished people.
EU’s Borrell visits Beirut hospital
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, paid a visit to the Geitaoui Hospital in Beirut, where he met patients in the specialised burn unit.
“I commend the work of the dedicated yet overwhelmed Lebanese doctors and nurses at the hospital,” Borrell wrote on social media. “The death toll among health workers in Lebanon is unacceptable: 266 have been killed by [Israeli military] strikes since October 8.”
With nowhere else to go, Sudanese refugees in Lebanon plead for evacuation
On November 10, Sudanese asylum seekers gathered to listen to Abdel Baqi Othman in a cafe in Lebanon’s capital Beirut.
The well-respected Sudanese activist spoke passionately about how Sudanese asylum seekers were trapped between the civil war in their homeland and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.
Othman urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to relocate registered Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees to Italy, Turkey or Cyprus until their asylum applications could be processed, or until they could be permanently resettled elsewhere.
In the crowd was Abdelmoniem Yahiya Othman, who held a sign that read, “No racism, no social violence. Stop killing civilians and children,” a plea against the myriad spectres threatening people in the region.
“We know the UN can distribute refugees and asylum seekers to different [safe] countries, but they are not doing anything,” he told Al Jazeera.
“We want to go to a place where the people are not at war.”
Israeli strike on town near southern Lebanon’s Tyre kills two
An Israeli strike has hit a house in Bazouriye, a town near the coastal city of Tyre, killing at least two people, Lebanon’s National News Agency reports.
At least one other person has been wounded, it said, adding that rescue efforts are still under way.
UN experts call for injured Al Jazeera cameraman to be evacuated from Gaza
Three UN experts have called for Israel to facilitate the medical evacuation of Al Jazeera’s Fadi al-Wahidi from Gaza.
Al-Wahidi is in a coma after he was shot in the neck by an Israeli sniper in October while he was covering an Israeli ground offensive in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. He was wearing protective gear that clearly identified him as a member of the news media.
The plea for his evacuation came from three UN special rapporteurs: Irene Khan, Francesca Albanese and Tlaleng Mofokeng.
“Al-Wahidi has the right to receive urgent medical care, and Israel has an obligation under international law to facilitate that right, but despite his life-threatening medical condition, the lack of medical facilities in Gaza, and urgent and repeated appeals from his doctors, his family and various press and journalist organisations, Israeli authorities continue to refuse to allow his evacuation,” the experts said.
“The killing of Palestinian journalists, their persistent arbitrary arrests and detentions, the continued ban on independent media access into Gaza, persistent internet shutdowns, the destruction of media outlets and displacement of the Gaza media community have severely restricted reporting on the war and hampered documentation,” they added.
“The denial of medical evacuation or delays in approving requests seem to be part of the overall pattern of persecution, threats and attacks by Israel on journalists in the occupied Palestinian territory in blatant defiance of its international obligations. We condemn it wholeheartedly. Access to medical care must not become a weapon to intimidate and silence journalists or anyone that sheds light on the situation in Gaza.”
