A picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Majdel Zoun shows smoke billowing during an Israeli air strike on its outskirts towards Zibqin village, on Jan. 28, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group in Gaza. (Credit: Kawnat Haju/AFP)
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Catch up on our LIVE coverage of Day 112, Day 113 and Day 114 of the Israel-Hamas war.
Israeli shelling over the weekend killed at least seven people and injured several people in strikes on homes and businesses across southern Lebanon. Israel’s attack targeting Marwahine (Sour) killed three people on Sunday, area residents told L’Orient Today’s correspondent, who were later claimed by Hezbollah. The bombardment of Beit Lif (Bint Jbeil) overnight from Friday to Saturday killed an additional four Hezbollah members, raising the number of party members killed in Lebanon and Syria since Oct. 8 to 174. On Friday, residents of Beit Lif said four people were injured after the bombardment of three houses in the town. Yesterday, a woman in Dhairah (Sour) suffered light injuries from glass being shattered by an Israeli airstrike. Videos from the area showed homes reduced to rubble. On Saturday, Tayr Harfa (Sour) residents reported an Israeli strike on a supermarket that damaged a nearby café and hairdressing salon. Hezbollah continued to announce cross-border attacks on Israeli military positions in northern Israel. Speaking to his Israeli counterpart, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III expressed his country’s commitment to a diplomatic solution to the border conflicts. Head of the Jmaijmeh (Bint Jbeil) municipality Qazzem Hamzah told L’Orient Today that several people arrested by General Security for claiming to have been called to evacuate immediately by Israelis were doing so as a “prank.” The Sour municipality’s disaster management unit, charged with aiding displaced southern Lebanon residents, announced a temporary closure after a woman broke an employee’s nose and bit another after being refused a heater — all of which were already being used.
Flooding killed a 7-year-old Syrian girl in Blana al-Haisa, Akkar, the Civil Defense announced Saturday after discovering her swept away in farming land near her home. Towns near al-Kabir River and al-Astawan River were flooded for the second time in two weeks, following a storm on Friday. The flood forced residents of the Summaqieh refugee camp to flee as their tents were submerged. Earlier this month, 11 camps in the Summaqieh area were completely flooded and nearly 2,000 people were displaced. An oil leak damaged farmlands in the area, where farmers have already reported devastating losses after earlier floods. Lebanese Farmers’ Association president Antoine Hoayek told L’Orient Today that asking for compensation was a waste of time, describing reparation funds as either unavailable or never reaching their destination. Caretaker Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan said that “unfortunately … a census carried out following last year's floods in Akkar did not result in any compensation,” while noting that cataloging damages aim to nonetheless preserve farmers’ rights.
Parliament on Friday approved the 2024 budget, which includes steps towards the liberalization of the lira-to-dollar exchange rate while increasing public employee salaries sevenfold and aligning taxes to the lira’s parallel market value. After three days of discussion during which MPs raised concerns over the budget’s lack of economic vision, dubious revenue projections and unfair levies, deputies voted on each of the text’s 96 articles leading to its adoption within the constitutional deadline, a first in 20 years. Once published in the official gazette, the budget will do away with the official exchange rate in favor of a rate set by Banque du Liban (BDL). The text includes a sevenfold increase to public employees’ salaries and the adjustment of taxes closer to the parallel market rate (LL89,500 to the dollar). The budget balances expenses and revenues to LL 295 billion (or 3.2 billion dollars at the parallel market rate). The funds allocated to the Defense Ministry represent 19.31 percent of the budget’s expenses, followed by the ministries of health (13.71), interior (10.91), education (6.39) and public works (3.78).
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) began distributing aid to 1,003 public schools, caretaker Education Minister Abbas Halabi announced, calling on schools that have yet done so to submit their budgets and benefit from the program. A source in UNICEF told L'Orient Today that these funds are part of the Transition Resilience Education Fund (TREF) which aims to “strengthen governance, transparency, efficiency and learning outcomes for children.” Amid the ongoing economic crisis, public schools face underfunding, along with staff and supply shortages.
The state’s complaint attempting to stop LBCI from airing the sitcom Marhaba Dawle was rejected, according to a statement by Beirut urgent matters judge Carla Shawah. “The request to completely prevent the broadcast of a television program constitutes an infringement on freedom of expression,” Shawah’s statement read, adding that the state’s complaint was not able to demonstrate the “transgression” allegedly committed by the show. On Thursday, LBCI announced receiving a complaint from the Lebanese state against a sitcom depicting Internal Security Forces members. The state alleged that the program “violates moral and ethical boundaries" and "offends the state and its institution.”
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced the re-opening Thursday of three schools forced shut in July by deadly armed clashes in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp. Classes will resume in three of the eight buildings managed by UNRWA (those in Falougha, Hattine and Qobbeih), while the others remain occupied by armed groups. Pupils enrolled at the Marj Ben Amer school, currently housed outside the camp, will move to Ain al-Hilweh. The assassination of a Fatah security official in July sparked days of clashes which renewed in September reportedly over the Islamist factions’ refusal to hand over the alleged killers. The fighting killed at least 18 people and injured dozens of others until a ceasefire brokered in mid-September. Homes, businesses and camp infrastructure were damaged, displacing hundreds of people.
At least 26,422 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to figures released yesterday by the enclave health ministry.
The International Court of Justice ruled that Israel “take all measures” to prevent acts of or incitements to genocide in Gaza, but did not call for an immediate cease-fire. The court called on Israel to “prevent: killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm to Palestinians; imposing conditions that are calculated towards the physical destruction of life, in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births.”
The Associated Press reported progress on a hostage deal, claiming a first phase would involve the release of women, elderly people and children held by Hamas and 30 days of paused hostilities to negotiate the release of remaining abductees.
Fighting raged in southern Gaza endangering the four remaining health centers, the largest of which shelters 5,000 displaced people and is facing dire supply shortages according to the World Health Organization. UNRWA warned of an alarming spread of diseases due to the lack of sanitation and drinking water. Hundreds of Israeli protesters associated with Tzav 9 (Order 9) have for days impeded the entry of aid into Gaza in a call to free hostages abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Kantz said he will work to “halt UNRWA’s activities” in Gaza after reports that members, now dismissed by the body, were involved in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The US suspended funding to the international organization, Switzerland said it will decide once more information is available while Ireland and Norway supported the agency, calling for the avoidance of collective punishment implied by cutting funds. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, warned that the decision to pause funding to UNRWA "overtly defies" the order by the International Court of Justice to allow effective humanitarian assistance" to reach Gazans.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from over the weekend: “12 Hezbollah strikes on Saturday, new weapons announced: What's next?”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz