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French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne says that Israeli "settler violence must stop" against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, AFP reports.
"Under no circumstances can there be forced displacement of Palestinians, neither out of Gaza nor out of the West Bank," Sejourne said during a Middle East tour aimed at securing a truce between Israel and militant group Hamas in Gaza.
The French minister denounced anti-Palestinian rhetoric and "even calls to commit war crimes" by Israeli officials, after some Netanyahu allies have endorsed Jewish re-settlement of the Gaza Strip after the war.
Sejourne called for supporting the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority of President Mahmud Abbas. "The future of the Gaza Strip is inseparable from the future of the West Bank, we must prepare for this future by supporting the Palestinian Authority," Sejourne said. "It must renew itself and redeploy as soon as possible in the Gaza Strip," where Hamas seized power in 2007, he added.
"I repeat: Gaza is Palestinian land," the top French diplomat said on his first tour of the region since taking office in January.
A man walks on al-Oyoun Street amid the destruction left behind by Israeli bombardment on Gaza City, on Feb. 3, 2024. (Credit: AFP)
The head of the main UN Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA, is visiting three Gulf states this week to drum up support after donors suspended funding following Israeli allegations that some of the agency's staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attack, Reuters reports.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced earlier today that an independent review of UNRWA's ability to ensure neutrality and respond to allegations of breaches would be led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.
Colonna will work with the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights, submitting an interim report by late March and a final report by late April that will be made public.
Guterres said the independent external review will take place alongside an investigation currently underway by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services.
A Haaretz investigation into ZAKA — an Israeli ultra-Orthodox private organization that retrieves human remains after attacks and disasters — revealed cases of "negligence, misinformation, and a fundraising campaign that used the dead as props" during the organization's work following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.
While involved in collecting the remains of those who died in Israel on the day that triggered the war on Gaza, ZAKA volunteers circulated "several stories without any basis," such as one about how they found "the burnt and mutilated bodies of 20 children," according to the Haaretz report.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (C) and Minister of State for Migration, Refugees and Integration Reem Alabali-Radovan (R) pose for a group photo with representatives of migrant organizations and networks of people with immigration backgrounds during a
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call today that a two-state solution with Palestinians is the only path to lasting peace in the region, AFP reports.
"From the view of the government, only a negotiated two-state solution would open up the prospect of a sustainable solution to the Middle East conflict. This must apply to both Gaza and the West Bank," Scholz said, according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.
A handout picture provided by the Palestinian Authority's press office shows Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas receiving France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Stephane Sejourne at his headquarters in the city of Ramallah in the occupied W
Here are the latest updates from southern Lebanon:
• Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the town of Mhaybib in the Marjayoun district, locals told our correspondent. No injuries have been reported.
• Israel bombed the southern town of Dhaira in Sour district, according to residents who spoke with L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south, Muntasser Abdallah.
• The Scouts of the Risala Association — an organization affiliated with the Amal movement — released a statement saying that while one of its rescue units was responding to the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Jibbayn, clearing debris and opening a road, it was targeted by another Israeli airstrike. One of the rescue team's vehicles was damaged. "Miraculously, the team survived," the organization said.
• Hezbollah announced that its fighters targeted the Israeli Yiftah barracks, located opposite the Lebanese border villages of Markaba and Hula, at 5 p.m.
The Amal Movement announced the death of three of its members. According to our correspondent in the south, the Amal Movement members were killed in an Israeli air raid on the southern Lebanese village of Beit Lif, Bint Jbeil district, which L'Orient Today reported on earlier this afternoon.
The three killed are: Hussein Azzam, born in the southern town of Siddikine, Sour district, in 1994; Hassan Skaiki, born in Ain Baal, Sour district, in 1996; and Jafar Iskandar, born in Rechknanay, Sour district, in 1991.
The party statement says Azzam, Skaiki, and Iskandar were "martyred while carrying out [their] national and jihadist duty in defense of Lebanon and the south," without providing further information.
This brings the death toll among members of the Amal Movement in southern Lebanon to six since the war began. The first casualty was on Nov. 11, the second two this past Friday, followed by today's.
Contradicting earlier statements, Israeli military officials admitted that members of a department within the army's Operations Directorate were responsible for the Telegram channel "72 Virgins – Uncensored," according to a report from Haaretz.
The channel featured graphic content, including images of killed Hamas members, with incendiary captions like "Exterminating the roaches … exterminating the Hamas rats … Share this beauty."
An internal investigation by the Israeli army revealed that the channel was operated by members of the Influencing Department, responsible for psychological warfare. The administrators launched the channel in the days following Oct. 7 "without authorization," the army claims.
Here are the latest updates from southern Lebanon:
• The Israeli Air Force has once again bombed the surroundings of the town of Jibbayn, Sour district, according to residents who spoke with L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south. During an earlier airstrike on this town, a civilian was injured.
• Hezbollah announces its fighters attacked the Israeli site of Samaka, in the occupied Shebaa Farms at 3:35 p.m., marking the second attack of the day. The party asserts that its attack caused injuries among Israeli forces.
• A source from the Scouts of the Risala Association — an organization affiliated with the Amal movement — reported that one of its ambulances narrowly escaped the Israeli strike that targeted Jibbayn, sustaining minor damages. This information was later confirmed by an official statement from the organization.
Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib said that Lebanon "wants comprehensive solutions, not half-solutions" regarding the situation in the south of the country on the border with Israel, according to state-run National News Agency.
Bou Habib made the statement during a meeting with Niels Annen, the Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Israeli warplanes struck the village of Beit Lif, Bint Jbeil district, for the second time in the last few hours, killing members of the Amal Movement, according to a security source who spoke with our correspondent in the south, Muntasser Abdallah.
This is the third time since the start of the war that members of the Amal Movement, allied with Hezbollah, have been killed. The latest incident occurred on Friday in the southern Lebanese town of Blida, killing two.
The exact number of Amal members killed today is not yet known. The party, formally de-militarized, claims to have 17,000 fighters in the south. L'Orient Today was not able to confirm these claims.
👉 Read more about other groups fighting in southern Lebanon.
Here's what's been happening at the Lebanon-Israel border during the past hour:
• A civilian was injured in the Israeli air raid that targeted the outskirts of Jibbayn, Sour district, which we reported earlier. His condition is moderate and he was transferred to a hospital in the area.
• Israeli warplanes struck the outskirts of Beit Lif, Bint Jbeil district. Ambulances were en route to the targeted area, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south.
• The Israeli air raid on the outskirts of Braasheet, Bint Jbeil district, which we reported earlier this afternoon, completely destroyed a house. No casualties have been reported.
• Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Mais al-Jabal, Marjayoun district.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Saudi Arabia for the first leg of his fifth trip to the region since the start of the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, AFP reports.
The leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil, called for "a peace that puts an end to the genocide in Palestine and punishes those responsible," at a conference.
Criticizing Israel, the FPM leader said it was "impossible to make peace with those who kill a people and deprive them of their land and their state." "How can we make peace with those who believe themselves superior to international law and accountability?" he asked.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said it cannot carry out its mission and provide humanitarian relief if safety conditions are not met.
“Safe and sustainable humanitarian access is urgently needed everywhere, including to the north of Gaza,” UNRWA said in a post on X.
Earlier, we reported that a truck carrying food supplies was hit by Israel’s navy. The truck was waiting to move into northern Gaza, where people are facing starvation.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Monday blamed the Israeli army for a naval strike on a food aid convoy preparing to enter northern Gaza, where it is at war with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
"Fortunately, no one was hurt," added Thomas White, the agency's head in the Palestinian territory, on X (formerly Twitter). The Israeli army has complete control over the maritime area bordering the Gaza Strip in the Mediterranean.
Update on the situation in southern Lebanon in the last hour:
- Israel shelled the outskirts of Khraibeh, Rashaya al-Foukhar and Fardis (Hasbaya), local residents told our correspondent in southern Lebanon.
- Machine gun fire was also reported coming from an Israeli border position, targeting Wazzani (Marjayoun).
- Israel launched flares over mourners in the village of Yaroun (Bint Jbeil), according to residents. They were mourning Abbas Nasser, a Hezbollah member whose death was announced earlier today.
- Local residents told our correspondent in southern Lebanon that Israeli jets struck the outskirts of Labbouneh, south of Naqoura (Sour).
- An airstrike on the outskirts of Braasheet (Bint Jbeil) struck near a Civil Defense center.
- Another airstrike targeted the outskirts of Jibain (Sour), specifically the road going towards Shihine. The strike hit an unoccupied house in the area.
-In two separate statements, Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli positions in Kfar Shouba and Shebaa Farms using rockets at 1:35 p.m. and 1:45 p.m.
Israel's foreign minister, Israel Katz, warned that "time is running out" to reach a diplomatic solution on the Lebanese-Israeli border where Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been exchanging near-daily fire since Oct. 8, according to AFP.
In the event that a diplomatic solution is not reached, Katz stated to his French counterpart, Stephane Sejourne, "Israel will act militarily to return the evacuated citizens."
Iran said that it would "not hesitate" to respond to any US strikes on Iranian territory as the US targeted Iranian interests and allies in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, AFP reports.
"The Islamic Republic has shown that it has always reacted decisively to any threat to its security, territorial integrity and sovereignty," Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani stated.
While the US has consistently said that it is not looking to expand the conflict, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC, "It would not be wise for me to talk about what we're ruling in and ruling out" when asked if there was a possibility of striking Iran directly.
Israel summoned the "executive committee member of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) organization and the general manager of al-Amal Hospital, Dr. Haider Al-Qaddura, along with the hospital's administrative director, Maher Atallah, and took them to an unknown location," PRCS announced on X.
Prior to that, the International Committee of the Red Cross informed the PRCS that Israel approved a safe passage, "enabling displaced individuals to leave al-Amal Hospital and PRCS headquarters towards Mawasi in Khan Younis," according to PRCS.
Spain will send around $3.8 million to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) while around a dozen other nations have suspended their funding to the UN agency amid accusations by Israel that members of UNRWA participated in Hamas's Oct. 7 attack, Reuters reports.
In 2023, Spain gave UNRWA around $19.8 million in funding, including $10.7 million of funding approved in December as part of an attempt to triple development and humanitarian aid in Palestinian territories.
The head of the Gaza bureau of the Qatari channel al-Jazeera, Wael al-Dahdouh, lost his mother on Sunday, who died following an illness in a hospital in the Palestinian enclave, according to several Arabic-speaking media.
Read the full story about the loss that Dahdouh has experienced since the start of the war on Oct. 7.
At least seven fighters from Kurdish-led anti-jihadist forces (SDF) have been killed in a drone attack on a US base in eastern Syria, according to an NGO.
The attack, claimed on Monday by the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq," a nebulous group of pro-Iranian groups, comes after US-led retaliatory strikes against elite Iranian forces and pro-Iranian armed groups in Syria and Iraq, which left at least 45 people dead.
Washington had responded to the attack attributed to pro-Iranian groups on January 28 against an American base in Jordan, near the Syrian and Iraqi borders, in which three American soldiers were killed.
The Israeli army claimed it is carrying out "targeted raids" against Hamas fighters in northern and central Gaza, where 128 people, mostly women, children and the elderly, have been killed in 24 hours, the Gazan Ministry of Health has announced.
The Gazan government, for its part, reported "air and artillery strikes around" the three hospitals in Khan Younis.
Israeli artillery shelling targeted the hills of Shebaa and Kfar Shouba (Hasbaya) and the outskirts of Labouneh, south of Naqoura (Sour), residents told our correspondent in the south around an hour ago.
No other incident was reported in the past hour.
Hezbollah announced the death of three of its members: Salman Fakih, from the village of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil), Abbas al-Kharsa from At Tiri (Bint Jbeil) and Abbas Nasser from Yaroun (Bint Jbeil). L'Orient Today earlier reported that Israel struck houses in the villages of Maroun al-Ras and Yaroun (Bint Jbeil) leaving an undetermined number of casualties last night. However, L'Orient Today could not confirm if the three Hezbollah members were killed in these strikes as the party does not specify the time and date of their death, only claiming they "fell as martyrs on the road to Jerusalem." Since the beginning of the skirmishes at the Lebanese-Israeli borders, 166 Hezbollah members were killed in Lebanon and 16 in Syria.
Here is what happened at the Lebanese-Israeli border in the past hour:
- The Israeli army announced that eight launches were fired towards the Upper Galilee, according to Haaretz. The Israeli newspaper did not mention if there were casualties. Citing the Israeli army, Haaretz added that the army "returned with artillery fire at the location of launches." Hezbollah has not yet claimed any attack against Israel this morning.
- Israeli artillery shelling targeted a forest between Tayr Harfa and Shamaa (Sour) as well as the valley of Wadi Hassan and the village of Dhairah (Sour), residents told our correspondent in southern Lebanon.
Here is what happened last night at the Lebanese-Israeli border:
- Between 9 and 10 p.m.: Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Dhairah and Alma al-Shaab (Sour).
- Between 10 and 11 p.m.: Israeli warplanes carried out three airstrikes targeting houses in the villages of Maroun al-Ras and Yaroun (Bint Jbeil) and leaving an undetermined number of casualties.
- Meanwhile, referring to overnight strikes on the same villages, Israeli spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced on X that Israeli warplanes attacked "a Hezbollah operational headquarters and military structure in Yaroun ... and a Hezbollah observation post in Maroun al-Ras."
In the Red Sea:
US forces announced that they had carried out air strikes against five missiles in Yemen on Sunday, the day after a wave of US-British air raids in the country in response to attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
The US military "conducted a self-defense strike" against "a Houthi land-attack cruise missile" and then against "four anti-ship cruise missiles, all prepared to be launched against ships in the Red Sea," the US Middle East Command (CENTCOM) said on social networks.
Washington "identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they posed an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region," CENTCOM added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whose country is Israel's main supporter, is expected in Saudi Arabia later today, on the first leg of his fifth trip to the region since the start of the war. The diplomat is also scheduled to visit Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the occupied West Bank. While the US continues to support "Israel's right to defend itself," it is increasingly frustrated with the Israeli government.
In Israel, Blinken will be pressing for more food, water and medicine to be delivered to the Gaza Strip. "This will be one of his top priorities when he meets with the Israeli government," said White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday, according to whom "the needs of the Palestinian population are at the heart of the American approach."
Fears are growing about a possible military offensive against Rafah, an overcrowded town on the closed border with Egypt, where, according to NGOs, the humanitarian situation is disastrous. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured us that the army had destroyed the majority of Hamas' "battalions." "Most of those remaining are in the south of the Gaza Strip and Rafah, and we're going to deal with them," he added.
The situation in Gaza:
The Israeli army continues to bomb Khan Younis where, according to Israel, leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement are hiding, reports AFP. The army claimed to have captured a compound used by Hamas to prepare the bloody attack of Oct. 7. According to the army, it served as a training center for Hamas, with models of kibbutz entrances, military bases and Israeli armored vehicles. Also, according to the army, Mohammad Sinwar had an office in the building. This senior commander of the armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, is the brother of Yahya Sinwar, the head of the Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip and considered the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack.
According to an AFP journalist, air strikes also targeted Rafah, hitting a kindergarten. According to the UN, the city, which had 270,000 inhabitants before the war, is now home to over 1.3 million people who have fled the fighting that has devastated the besieged territory.
Make sure to read the Morning Brief so that you are caught up with what has been happening.
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