Israel completes third airstrike on suburbs of Lebanese capital

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said that in the past few hours, Israeli jets carried out a third wave of airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, targeting several locations that Israel said were Hezbollah command centers. The warplanes attacked a missile depot and 15 missile launchers in southern Lebanon, including launchers equipped with guided missiles aimed at Israeli territory.

* On the same day, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty discussed the latest developments in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and many other issues, at two separate meetings on November 15 with his Russian counterparts Sergey Lavrov and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The contacts took place on the sidelines of the Sir Bani Yas Forum held in the UAE. During talks with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, Mr. Abdelatty exchanged views on developments related to Israel's military actions in Gaza and Lebanon, agreeing on the need for an immediate ceasefire and unconditional access to humanitarian aid.

During the meeting between the host country's Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah and his Egyptian counterpart Abdelatty, the two sides discussed the latest developments related to the crisis in the Gaza Strip, the escalation in the occupied West Bank and the situation in Lebanon.

* Regarding tensions in the Middle East, on November 15, the United Nations (UN) announced that Israel has only approved the evacuation of 25% of the 21,000 patients in the Gaza Strip from October 2023.

The UN Secretary-General’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, reiterated the UN’s call for the establishment of evacuation corridors and the use of all possible routes to ensure the safe and timely transport of all patients requiring specialist care. On November 13, the World Health Organization and partners supported the medical evacuation of eight children and six accompanying adults from Gaza to Jordan, Dujarric added.

Israel has been conducting a military campaign in Gaza since the Hamas Islamic Movement raided Israel on October 7, 2023. The conflict between the two sides has killed more than 43,700 people in Gaza, injured tens of thousands of others and made the land almost uninhabitable.

* On the same day, Qatar reaffirmed its support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), emphasizing that it will continue to provide political, diplomatic and financial support to UNRWA to address the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people.

The statement was made in a statement by the Permanent Mission of Qatar at the Fourth Committee of the UN General Assembly on the Agenda Concerning UNRWA held at the UN Headquarters in New York (USA). The statement of the Qatari delegation also emphasized that since its establishment, UNRWA has provided essential services and urgent needs to more than 5 million Palestinian refugees across the occupied Palestinian territories.

Qatar calls on the General Assembly, as the mandated body for UNRWA, to exercise its responsibility to prevent UNRWA from being dissolved. Qatar also calls on UN Member States and the international community to take action against the implementation of laws against UNRWA; reaffirms its condemnation of the Israeli Knesset’s enactment of a law prohibiting the agency’s activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

* On November 15, German Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesperson Christian Wagner stressed that the country is “very concerned” after the UN report that Israel’s military actions resemble the characteristics of “genocide” with images and figures reflecting the suffering in Gaza.

Mr. Wagner also called on Israel to “comply with international humanitarian law in Gaza.” Earlier, on November 14, the UN Special Committee accused Israel of “deliberately imposing life-threatening conditions on Palestinians…Since the outbreak of the conflict, Israeli officials have openly supported policies that deprive Palestinians of the most essential things to sustain life, such as food, water and fuel,” and “systematically interfered with humanitarian aid to use vital supplies for political and military purposes.”

The commission's report also highlights the devastating impact of Israel's ongoing siege and bombing campaigns, stressing how Israel's destruction of Gaza's infrastructure, including water, sanitation and food systems, has led to a humanitarian disaster since October 2023.