People gather with jerrycans to fill up water from a tanker truck in the yard of a UNRWA school housing Palestinians displaced by Israeli aggression, in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on May 14, 2024. (Credit: AFP)
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Catch up on yesterday’s LIVE coverage of Day 221 of the Gaza war here.
Hezbollah announced the death of another of its fighters, killed in an Israeli strike on Mais al-Jabal yesterday morning and at least five people were reported injured as attacks fell across southern Lebanese villages, felling several houses. On the Israeli side, the army announced one civilian was killed and five soldiers wounded by a rocket strike launched from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah continued announcing cross-border attacks on Israeli military personnel, equipment and sites — one of which targeted a surveillance balloon and was followed by an Israeli report of having lost control of the device.
Parliament meets today to discuss a €1 billion European Union pledge to Lebanon intending to empower basic services and “combat migrant smuggling,” which several political chiefs denounced as a “bribe” for continuing to host displaced Syrians. The session comes on the heels of nearly 200 Syrians’ departure from Arsal aboard the Lebanese state’s first mass repatriation trip since Nov. 2022. Returnees, at risk of detention, torture and death by international organizations’ foreboding, told L’Orient Today they felt forced to take the trip by difficult living conditions in Lebanon made worse by feeling that the Lebanese “can't stand [them] anymore” — amid bursts of violence targeting Syrians, official anti-Syrian rhetoric and state- and municipality-level repressions. Several parties which usually boycott Parliament meetings told L’Orient Today they will attend, with the Lebanese Forces describing the exceptional nature of the session as one “to monitor cabinet action.” Mikati has described reactions to the European financing as “populist one-upmanship,” stressing that his cabinet intends to continue enforcing measures to repatriate or deport displaced Syrians.
At least 35,173 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the latest figures from the enclave’s Health Ministry. Israel pushed deeper into eastern Rafah, sending hundreds of thousands of people to the western edge of the town. The Israeli army has simultaneously waged new attacks in northern and central Gaza where it claims Hamas was recouping, leaving several dead after strikes on the Nousseira refugee camp. Supplies are increasingly scarce across Gaza after Israel restricted access to the Rafah crossings last week. Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Israel of striking at least eight humanitarian sites with no advance warning, a day after Israeli gunfire killed a UN employee in Rafah.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Will a ban on TikTok be imposed in Lebanon after the discovery of a pedophilia ring?”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz
