France accuses Israel of violating ceasefire over 50 times: Day 422 of the Gaza and Lebanon wars

Four Israeli artillery shells targeted the plain of Khiam (Marjayoun district) as well as a house in the area, according to our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

Several explosions echoed in Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun district) in southern Lebanon, reported our correspondent in the region. 

Israel has "no excuse" for blocking humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, a senior German diplomat said ahead of a Cairo conference on the crisis, AFP reported. This comes after the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced it was halting aid deliveries from a key crossing point with Israel.

Tobias Lindner, Germany’s deputy foreign minister, called on Israel to "keep its promises to smooth the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza and grant sufficient humanitarian access at all times." In a statement released before his trip to Egypt, Lindner added, "There is no excuse for this. Israel's right to self-defense is limited by international humanitarian law."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock echoed similar concerns earlier this month, criticizing Israel for "constantly" failing to meet its commitments.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that four people have been killed this morning in an Israeli airstrike near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has announced that Lebanese-American businessman Massaad Boulos will serve as his senior advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs, Reuters reported.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the cease-fire in Lebanon is a "huge step forward for the Middle East," in an interview with NBC relayed by Haaretz.

He added that the United States aims to "get through these first few critical days when it's most fragile, have it take full hold and ultimately build on it so it becomes the permanent cease-fire it is intended to be."

Sullivan added that the key feature differentiating the current cease-fire from the agreement, which ended the 2006 war in Lebanon was the fact that an international coalition is monitoring it. "What makes this time different [than 2006] is the United States, France and other allies are working together with the Lebanese Army through a mechanism to make sure it's implemented effectively."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to hold two security meetings tonight, Haaretz reported.

One will focus on negotiations for a hostage release deal in Gaza, while the other will address developments in Lebanon and Syria.

The United States is "actively working" towards a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but "we're not there yet," said Jake Sullivan, the White House national security advisor, cited by AFP.

"We are working actively to try to make it happen ... There will be further conversations and consultations, and our hope is that we can generate a cease-fire and hostage deal, but we're not there yet," said Jake Sullivan, according to a transcript released by broadcaster NBC. 

The Palestinian Health Ministry announced the death of two people in Siir, near Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army says it carried out an airstrike, reports AFP.

The ministry announced in a statement the death of "two citizens (not yet identified) following the occupation's aggression on Siir."

The Israeli army had indicated in the morning that an air force aircraft had carried out "a strike on terrorists" in the Jenin region, without giving further details. Asked again to confirm the toll, it did not respond immediately.

According to an AFP journalist at the scene, the army entered the village of Siir around 7:00 a.m., before withdrawing in the afternoon. He described seeing two destroyed vehicles near a wooded area and traces of blood at the scene.

Iraqi authorities no longer allow Lebanese nationals to enter Iraqi territory without a valid passport, ending an exceptional measure put in place at the end of September, when the clashes between Hezbollah and Israel intensified and spread to South Lebanon, the Bekaa, the southern suburbs of Beirut as well as some isolated areas elsewhere in the country.

The information was relayed by a press release from General Security sent to travel agencies in Lebanon and was confirmed to L'Orient Today by the General Directorate of Civil Aviation.

"From now on, Lebanese nationals will not be accepted at Baghdad International Airport or Najaf International Airport if they are not in possession of a valid passport. Any other travel document will be refused by the Iraqi immigration services," the statement relaying the directive said.

At the end of September, General Security announced that Lebanese people would be allowed to travel to Iraq with their identity cards, even though the Israeli offensive had only just begun.

Jaafarite Mufti Ahmad Kabalan, who is close to Hezbollah, said on Sunday that "destructive ideas and revenge campaigns have no place in the presidential election regulations," the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Read the full story here.

Yemen's Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile strike on Israel on Sunday morning, Haaretz reports.

Sirens sounded across the center of the country that morning, as Israeli army spokesperson Avichai Adraee said a missile fired from Yemen had been intercepted before entering Israeli airspace.

The Houthis claimed that the 'hypersonic' missile had hit a 'vital target.'

Kuwait called for an "immediate cease-fire" in Gaza at the Gulf summit, AFP reported.

In south Lebanon:

- The Israeli army detonated a building in Khiam (Marjayoun).

- An Israeli bulldozer demolished a house in Maroun al-Ras (Bint Jbeil).

In the Bekaa:

- The Lebanese army destroyed an unexploded Israeli munition near Taybeh.

Gaza's Health Ministry said that at least 44,429 people have been killed and another 105,250 injured in Israel's offensive on the enclave.

It added that 47 people were killed in the last 24 hours.

France reported 52 alleged cease-fire violations by the Israeli army and accused Israel of circumventing the international committee responsible for ensuring compliance with the agreement, according to Israeli media, including Yedioth Ahronoth and i24News.

The British maritime agency UKMTO reported on X an incident in the Red Sea, 150 km south of Aden, which authorities are investigating. According to the statement, a yacht was chased by 12 "smaller" boats, one of which came dangerously close. The crew is safe and sound, the agency said, and has headed for its port of call.

In south Lebanon, L'Orient Today's correspondent reported the sound of gunfire heard near Maroun al-Ras, which appeared to be fired in the direction of Bint Jbeil.

The Lebanese army announced in a statement relayed by the National News Agency that it would destroy unexploded ordnance fired by Israel in the vicinity of Taybeh, in the Bekaa, between noon and 4 p.m.

Haaretz published an op-ed titled "Haaretz will not be silenced by Netanyahu" a week after the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut all ties and funding with the Israeli daily founded in 1919.

Signed by editor-in-chief Aluf Benn, the column accuses the prime minister and its "political henchmen" of seeking to "delegitimize and financially strangle" the daily, adding that it is not the only target in the prime minister's sights.

"Benjamin Netanyahu has never liked our reporting and our firm stance against his policy of occupation and annexation, and his general denial of Palestinian rights," Haaretz added.

UNRWA announced the suspension of aid deliveries to Gaza through a key crossing point from Israel, according to AFP.

"We are suspending the delivery of aid through Kerem Shalom, the main crossing point for humanitarian aid in Gaza," the head of the U.N. agency, Philippe Lazzarini, said on X, adding that the food trucks had "all" been stolen the day before during their delivery.

In south Lebanon:

- A tank shell was fired from Khiam to the Ebel al-Saqi valley (Marjayoun).

- Supplementing the information reported by the National News Agency, L'Orient Today's correspondent specified that isolated explosions have been heard in some border villages since the beginning of the day, without their origin being clearly determined. They noted in particular that Yaroun (Bint Jbeil) saw two Israeli strikes at dawn.

- Israeli fighter jets flew over Saida.

Israeli military strikes killed at least 15 Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, medics said, as Israeli forces continued their bombardment of the enclave and blew up homes on its northern outskirts, Reuters reported.

In the Nussairat camp in the central Gaza Strip, an Israeli airstrike killed six people in a house. Another attack killed three people in a house in Gaza City, medics said. Two children were killed when a missile hit a tent camp in Khan Younis in the south, while four people were killed in an airstrike in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics told Reuters.

Residents also reported that the Israeli army blew up groups of houses in the areas of Jabalya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have been carrying out operations since October this year.

According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), noises sounding like an explosion were heard in the morning from the Yaroun and Maroun al-Ras area (Bint Jbeil).

According to sources in Qaa contacted by L'Orient Today's correspondent, around 4,000 people, including many Lebanese who fled the bombings, are ready to cross the border between Lebanon and Syria today.

The Qaa crossing between Lebanon and Syria has been reopened nearly a month after an Israeli airstrike targeted the Syrian side of the crossing in October, according to a statement relayed by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the Bekaa. The crater caused by the strike has been filled, and displaced Lebanese people have started returning home. Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh visited the site for the reopening.

On Oct. 25, an Israeli airstrike targeting the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon cut off a border crossing between the two countries. According to information obtained by L'Orient Today, the strike targeted a bridge in the area known as "Jousseh," the name used in Syria to designate the Qaa crossing, and destroyed a cemetery near the target. The area has been bombed several times, including four times on Nov. 23.

The municipality of Habboush (Nabatieh) ordered, in a press release quoted by L'Orient Today's correspondent, displaced Syrians who are not in good standing with the authorities to "no longer return" to the village until further notice.

Read the full story here.

Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said that the proposal currently on the table for a cease-fire in Gaza and a deal to release the hostages is irrelevant and that he knows that "the prime minister really, really does not want his party, Otzma Yehudit, to leave the government," in an interview with Army Radio carried by Haaretz.

He added: " We are currently on the right track in Gaza ... Ideas such as colonizing the Gaza Strip are welcome. Conquering Gaza is certainly an idea. But I must admit that this is not enough for me; I also want to encourage migration. I think we should allow Palestinians to leave their country voluntarily."

Ben-Gvir said he was "working hard with the prime minister to make this happen, and he was beginning to show some openness on the issue."

According to al-Sharq al-Awsat, the Hamas leadership said that it was "open to discussing all ideas and proposals that will lead to the end of the war, the protection of the Palestinian people, the withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip, the return of displaced persons, the entry of humanitarian aid" and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

According to the daily, Hamas has not yet received any new proposals, but the organization is ready to consider all those that include a cease-fire and a gradual withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip, "provided that there are international guarantees."

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least six people overnight, including two young children who died in the tent where their family had taken shelter, medical officials said Sunday, cited by The Associated Press.

The strike in the Muwasi area, a camp housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people, also wounded the children's mother and their siblings, according to nearby Nasser Hospital. An Associated Press journalist at the hospital saw the bodies, Haaretz reported.

Another strike in the southern city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, killed four men, according to hospital records.

In a statement released Sunday, Hezbollah denied responsibility for the attack on a journalist on Saturday, calling it an individual incident that had nothing to do with the party.

"Freedom of expression is sacred as long as it does not violate social values ​​and existing laws," Hezbollah's media office added.

Sky News Arabia journalist Daoud Rammal was attacked twice on Saturday in Doueir (Nabatieh) while he was visiting his mother's grave, according to the channel where he works, which attributed the act to Hezbollah. The journalist confirmed this version in a televised intervention, saying that his 15-year-old son was present and that the attackers accused him of spying for Israel and foreign embassies. The caretaker information minister, Ziad Makary – who contacted the journalist directly, according to the latter – and the editors' union denounced the incident. Rammal also announced that he would take the case to court on Monday.

In south Lebanon, Israel carried out new bombings despite the cease-fire that came into effect Wednesday morning.

- On Saturday evening around 8 p.m., Israeli artillery targeted Khiam (Marjayoun), which the Israeli army had been trying to capture for nearly two weeks, without success. L'Orient Today's correspondent also reported the sounds of military vehicles moving in the center of Khiam and drones flying at low altitudes.

- Around 9 p.m., three artillery shots targeted Ebel al Saqi (Marjayoun), while fighter planes flew over Nabatieh.

- At around 3 a.m., Israeli drones flew over the airspace of Jabal al-Rihane (Jezzine), while artillery fire targeted Arnoun and Yohmor (Nabatieh).

- Around 5 a.m., two airstrikes targeted Yaroun (Bint Jbeil), while drones continued to monitor south Lebanon.

In Gaza, where Hamas and Israel are setting their conditions for the resumption of talks for a cease-fire, the armed wing of the Palestinian movement published on Saturday a new video of one of the hostages captured on Oct. 7, 2023 during the attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement in Israel from the Gaza Strip.

The video, whose date of recording cannot be verified, shows a young man asking to pressure the Israeli government for his release and that of all the hostages still held captive in the besieged and bombarded enclave by Israel, which is causing its share of Palestinian deaths every day.

Read the full story here.

Good morning! 

Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the ongoing war in Gaza and the cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon.