Smoke billows after Israeli bombardment over Lebanon's southern town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel on Dec. 21, 2023, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. (Credit: AFP)
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Catch up on yesterday’s LIVE coverage of Day 76 of the Israel-Hamas war here.
Israeli shelling on Maroun al-Ras killed a 75-year-old woman and injured her 80-year-old husband, village officials told L’Orient Today’s correspondent. Hezbollah said it attacked several civilian targets in northern Israel to retaliate. The party continued to announce cross-border strikes while Israeli bombardments fell across southern Lebanon. A local authority in Aita al-Shaab said a Hezbollah fighter was killed at his home in the town, which the party confirmed — raising the number of members killed, in Syria and Lebanon, since Oct. 8 to 119.
The World Bank reversed pre-Oct. 7 projections of economic growth in Lebanon, expecting a GDP drop of 0.6 to 0.9 percent chiefly from “the shock to tourism spending” caused by the Hamas-Israel war and its spillover into Lebanon. Before the war, Lebanon’s economy was expected to expand, driven by summer tourism and remittances, for the first time since 2018. More than half of travel reservations to Lebanon have been canceled for winter holidays, the World Bank said, warning that "tourism cannot, on its own, serve as the basis for an economic recovery.” Middle East Airlines’ commercial director earlier this month said the airline’s trips to Lebanon during the holiday period were almost fully booked. Inflation figures for November showed that the price of consumer goods on average had increased by 2.6 percent from October — during which the Consumer Price Index, led by education costs, surged by 17.2 percent, after months of limited increases.
Fugitive ex-Renault-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn will be allowed to remain in his Achrafieh residence after the eviction order against him was frozen by the urgent matters court of appeals. Pending the resolution of Nissan-affiliate Phoinos’s “property violation” lawsuit against Ghosn, he will be allowed to remain in the residence. A Beirut judge in October issued an eviction order against Ghosn after Phoinos attempted to reclaim the property. Ghosn contends that there is a signed agreement with Nissan allowing him to reside in the property which also had a guarantee-of-sale attached.
Over 7,000 Internal Security Forces troops will be deployed across Lebanon “to ensure security on Christmas Eve,” caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi announced. “There will be 462 officers, 6,872 agents and 292 patrols deployed for that night,” Mawlawi detailed, in a mobilization similar to last year’s holiday security deployment. The interior minister reaffirmed security forces’ commitment to stop celebratory gunfire. While outlawed, celebratory gunfire remains popular across Lebanon often causing deaths or injuries. Stray bullets have repeatedly interfered with air traffic at the Beirut International Airport.
United Arab Emirates-built desalination plants in Egypt started providing drinkable water to Rafah’s residents after weeks of Israeli bombardment and siege left them drinking unclean, brackish water. The World Health Organization (WHO) said there are no fully functioning hospitals in Gaza. Amid a stalled United Nations Security Council vote for a ceasefire and talks for a new ceasefire, the Israeli military continued its attack on Gaza announcing no intention of a truce. Israel ordered the evacuation of additional areas in southern Gaza, announced taking control of new regions and said it flooded additional Hamas tunnels. “If [Israel] wants its hostages back alive, it has no choice but to stop the aggression,” Hamas military wing spokesperson Abu Obeida said, reaffirming an earlier statement from the group refusing to negotiate hostage releases before a ceasefire begins.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Two and a half months on, everything we know about the Oct. 7 operation”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz.
