Live: Thousands return home as Lebanon ceasefire takes hold
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Aljazeera's correspondent in northern Gaza is reporting that the director of Kamal Adwan hospital has been wounded by an Israeli air strike on the facility.
إصابة مدير مستشفى كمال عدوان الدكتور حسام أبو صفية في قصف الاحتلال للمستشفى
— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) November 23, 2024
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya has gained a far-reaching audience across social media platforms, where he is often seen pleading with the international community to break the more than 40-day siege on northern Gaza, so his patients might have a chance to stay alive.
Last month Israel killed Abu Safiya's son.
The Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed is reporting that Lebanon's objection to Germany and Britain monitoring and enforcing United Nations Resolution 1701, and Israel's objection to France's participation, will not undermine the pending ceasefire agreement.
This follows the return of the US Special Envoy Amos Hochstein to Washington, after days of meetings in Beirut and Tel Aviv.
Thus far the deal includes a 60-day truce during in which the Israeli army will withdraw from all Lebanese territories, while the Lebanese army will deploy in the south of the country.
The sticking point remains that Israel wants to keep striking Hezbollah targets as needed, but Hezbollah would not be able to respond.
Resolution 1701 went into effect in 2006 and put in place UN peacekeeping forces along a designated buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon.
Israel has killed 3,670 people in Lebanon and wounded 15, 413, over the past 13 months, the Lebanese health ministry said on Saturday.
On Friday alone, Israeli bombings killed 25 people and wounded 58, authorities said.
3670 شهيدا و 15413 جريحا منذ بدء العدوان، وحصيلة يوم أمس 25 شهيدا و 58 جريحا pic.twitter.com/FGgGQoBVa0
— Ministry of Public Health - Lebanon (@mophleb) November 23, 2024
There are also at least 28 known deaths in Lebanon on Saturday, based on the government's preliminary numbers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Saturday that his office had received an invitation to visit Hungary despite the outstanding ICC arrest warrant against him.
Hungary's right-wing president, Victor Orban, has typically assumed positions that do not align with Brussels' decisions, including maintaining a relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Orban told a local radio station: "I will guarantee that if he comes, the International Criminal Court ruling will have no effect in Hungary."
The Lebanese health ministry said on Saturday that an Israeli air raid on Tyre, a coastal city in southern Lebanon, killed one person and injured 16 others. Authorities noted that this is a preliminary count.
Three of those injured are in critical condition.
Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for Hamas' armed wing, said an Israeli woman held captive in northern Gaza was killed.
Abu Obeida says she was killed when Israeli forces struck the area where she was being held.
"After re-establishing contact weeks later with those assigned to protect the captives, it emerged a woman was killed in an area under Israeli fire in the northern Gaza Strip," he said.
He added that another female Israeli captive was critically wounded and that her life was in danger.
Abu Obeida held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government responsible for the lives of all captives.
The death toll from Israel's strike on central Beirut's Basta al-Fawqa neighbourhood rose to 15, Lebanon's health ministry said.
The ministry says this may not be the final toll.
The coastal road that connects Beirut to Tyre, 80km south of the Lebanese capital, has an acrid stench of destruction.
For kilometres, the only vehicles visible on the once-busy highway are the carcasses of cars scattered along the roadside, grim remnants of the violence unleashed by Israeli strikes.
Tyre, the pearl of southern Lebanon, known as Sour in Arabic, is popular for its historical heritage, its architectural beauty and its beaches. Today, the ancient city seems cut off from the world.
"That's how it is, we can't do anything about it," 75-year-old Abou Elias told Middle East Eye.
READ MORE: In Tyre, pride in ancient city sustains remaining residents amid Israeli destruction
Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said that around 80 percent of verified deaths in the Gaza Strip occurred in residential buildings, which have been regularly targeted by Israeli air strikes.
"In Gaza, strikes by the Israeli forces continue with civilian casualties and destruction of residential buildings," the agency said on X. "Around 80 percent of verified fatalities were people killed in residential buildings, according to UN Human Rights reports."
In #Gaza, strikes by the Israeli Forces continue with civilian casualties and destruction of residential buildings.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) November 23, 2024
Around 80% of verified fatalities were people killed in residential buildings, according to @UNHumanRights reports. pic.twitter.com/9hl2DUKh6d
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz on Saturday, the Department of Defense said.
"Secretary Austin emphasised the importance of ensuring the safety and security of the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL forces in Lebanon," according to a Pentagon read-out of the call.
Reporting by Reuters
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday praised the "courageous decision" of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to seek the arrests of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
"We support the arrest warrant. We consider it important that this courageous decision be carried out by all country members of the accord to renew the trust of humanity in the international system," Erdogan said during a speech in Istanbul.
The ICC issued the warrants against the Israeli leaders and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif on Thursday on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza conflict.
"It is imperative that western countries - who for years have given the world lessons on law, justice and human rights - keep their promises at this stage," added Erdogan, whose country is not a state party in the ICC accord.
Reporting by AFP
Lebanon's National News Agency said that an Israeli strike on Roumine, in south Lebanon's Nabatieh governorate, killed at least five people.
When Palestine formally joined the International Criminal Court (ICC) nine years ago, officials were keen to stress that the effects take years to materialise.
“I don't want to disappoint our people, but the ICC procedures are slow and long and might face lots of obstacles and challenges and might take years,” said Riyad al-Maliki, the foreign minister of the Palestinian National Authority, better known as Palestinian Authority (PA), at the time.
That lengthy, obstacle-filled process bore fruit on Thursday as the ICC handed out arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.
The indictments of the Israeli prime minister and former defence minister mark a historic milestone in the pursuit of justice for Palestinians.
The decision to go down the route of international legal justice was a long time in the making.
READ MORE: The PLO’s patient strategy of turning to ICC paying off with arrest warrants
A Lebanese security source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the strike had "targeted a leading Hezbollah figure", though it was unclear if they were killed. The official did not name the figure.
Israeli air strikes started pounding Beirut's southern suburbs an hour after bombing notices were issued.
