Germany War in the Middle East rages on - aid conference for Lebanon
A few hours before the start of an international aid conference for Lebanon in Paris, the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut were once again rocked by heavy Israeli air strikes.
24.10.2024, 05:27
SDA
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least one person was killed and five others were injured, including a child. The Hezbollah militia in turn fired at Israel again. Around 135 shells were fired at northern Israel during the course of the day, the army announced in the evening. There was also another air alert in Tel Aviv. Four projectiles were registered. Some were intercepted, others hit open ground. In the coastal town of Naharija, one person was injured by rocket debris, according to the rescue service.
Lebanon aid conference in Paris
At an aid conference for Lebanon in Paris today, the focus will be on support for the suffering population and the establishment of a functioning state. Germany is providing a further 60 million euros in humanitarian aid to the country, which has been shaken by war and a severe economic crisis. This was announced by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in a telephone conversation with Lebanese Prime Minister Nadschib Mikati, according to government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock intends to take part in the conference in Paris.
She visited Beirut on Wednesday and warned of the far-reaching consequences of the war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia for the Middle East. Baerbock called for a new diplomatic offensive. Following the telephone conversation between Scholz and Mikati, it was crucial that a start be made on a political process. The goals should be the security of the people in Israel and the sovereignty of Lebanon. Israel is demanding that Hezbollah withdraw from the national border about 30 kilometers beyond the Litani River in accordance with UN Resolution 1701. Israel wants its inhabitants who have fled from the north of the country to be able to return safely.
US Secretary of State continues Middle East talks
The key to peace lies in the full implementation of the UN resolution, said Baerbock in Beirut. Lebanon's armed forces also have an important role to play in this. At the Lebanon conference in Paris today, she wanted to "explore how we can make progress on this difficult path and at the same time help to alleviate the humanitarian suffering". Lebanon's partner states, the UN, the European Union and international, regional and civil society organizations are to take part in the conference at ministerial level.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is continuing his efforts to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East with talks in Qatar. He had previously rejected reports of a possible permanent occupation of the northern Gaza Strip by Israel. The Israeli government is not pursuing any such plans, he said in Tel Aviv. Israeli human rights groups had warned last week that there were signs that the military was quietly beginning to implement the so-called "Generals' Plan" or Eiland Plan, which envisages the forced displacement of the civilian population by tightening the siege of the northern Gaza Strip and starving the population.
Guterres speaks of Israeli siege in northern Gaza
In the evening, UN Secretary-General António Guterres complained on Platform X that the people "suffering under the ongoing Israeli siege in northern Gaza" were rapidly running out of means to survive. "The civilian population must be protected and must be able to receive humanitarian aid. This is required by international humanitarian law," wrote Guterres. In the case of human rights violations in northern Gaza, a senior former Israeli security advisor suggested that the soldiers deployed there should refuse to obey orders. In a BBC interview, Eran Etzion warned that the Israeli military may be committing war crimes in the northern Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army and the Arab TV channel Al-Jazeera once again came to blows over reporting on the Gaza war. The army announced that it had found documents in the coastal strip according to which six of the broadcaster's journalists were also members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. Al-Jazeera rejected the accusations. They were "fabricated accusations" and an attempt to silence the journalists who remained in Gaza. Israel wanted to hide the war from the world public, it said.
Renewed attacks in Lebanon
Meanwhile, according to the United Nations, the humanitarian situation in Lebanon has also deteriorated dramatically as a result of Israel's latest attacks. According to Lebanese security circles, Israel's army almost completely destroyed several towns in the south of the country. According to eyewitnesses, residential areas in the suburbs of Beirut lie in ruins. Fighter jets attacked the suburbs at least ten times again in the evening hours, as a reporter from the German Press Agency described on location. According to the Lebanese news agency NNA, a residential complex was destroyed in the Lailaki area. The Al-Janah area near the international airport was also hit.
According to the Hezbollah-affiliated television station Al-Majadin, an office of the station south of Beirut was also attacked. Al-Majadin reported this on its website and in social media and showed footage of a destroyed floor in a residential building. The information could not initially be independently verified. There were no reports of casualties. At the same time, according to Hezbollah, the Israeli army is continuing to advance into southern Lebanon. Israeli ground troops had attempted to advance into Lebanese territory near the town of Aitarun, the militia announced. Their fighters had forced the soldiers to retreat across the border with machine guns and rockets, it said.
Human rights activists condemn attacks on Hezbollah bank
Israel's army also reportedly bombed branches of the Al-Kard al-Hassan association in Lebanon, a type of Hezbollah bank. According to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), the attacks constitute war crimes. "The fact that an armed group uses a financial institution, association or bank does not constitute an effective contribution to military action," HRW stated. "Therefore, it is not a legitimate military objective under the laws of war," it said.
The current war began a year ago with rocket attacks by Hezbollah on Israel - according to its own account in support of Hamas, against which Israel has been waging war in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas terror attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have been firing at each other in the border area. In September, Israel massively expanded its attacks in Lebanon - from the air and then also on the ground. More than 2,500 people were killed, thousands injured and hundreds of thousands displaced, most of them in Lebanon.
