Live: Thousands return home as Lebanon ceasefire takes hold

Five paramedics have been killed in Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon, Wafa news agency is reporting, citing media and medical sources.

According to Lebanon's health ministry, three paramedics were killed and three others injured in an Israeli strike targeting an ambulance in the town of Deir Qanun Ras Al-Ain, in the Tyre area of southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the country's National News Agency reported that two other paramedics were killed in an Israeli strike targeting the village of Al-Qatarani in the Jezzine district.

The latest deaths being the total number of medical personnel killed since Israel's attacks on Lebanon began in October 2023 to 214, with 321 others injured.

Gaza's Health Ministry has said that fuel shortages are forcing all hospitals in the territory to halt or reduce services "within 48 hours."

“We raise an urgent warning as all hospitals in the Gaza Strip will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation’s obstruction of fuel entry,” Marwan al-Hams, director of Gaza’s field hospitals told reporters.

Downing Street suggested it would enforce the ICC arrest warrants issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.

Refusing to comment on whether or not Netanyahu would face arrest on British soil, a spokesperson for No 10 said in a statement that "the UK will always comply with its legal obligations as set out by domestic law and indeed international law."

Starmer's spokesperson added that the government would fulfil its obligations under the International Criminal Court Act 2001, which states that they must, on receipt of a request for arrest from the ICC, “transmit the request and the documents accompanying it to an appropriate judicial officer".

Rockets fired at a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil)  base in southern Lebanon'a Chamaa have injured at least four Italian peacekeepers, according to Italy's Defence Ministry.

This is the latest in a slew of attacks targeting the UN mission, the peacekeeping force tasked with preventing hostilies from escalating in southern Lebanon.

“From an initial reconstruction, two rockets hit a bunker on the base and a room near the international military police, causing damage to the surrounding infrastructure. Some glass shattered due to the explosion, hitting the four soldiers,” the ministry said in a statement.

The attack follows another on Tuesday when four soldiers, all from Ghana, were hurt when a missile struck their base. Unifil said the rocket was most likely fired by “non-state actors”.

An Israeli missile strike has flattened a multistorey building in Beirut’s southern suburb of Chiyah.

Footage circulated online showed the block collapsing after it the missile struck. No casualties have been reported yet, Israeli forces issued expulsion orders for residents in the area.

مشاهد مرعبة توثق لحظة استهداف المبنى في #الشياح pic.twitter.com/lQssyMj3Fz

— هنا لبنان (@thisislebnews) November 22, 2024

Ten pro-Palestinian NGOs asked a Dutch court on Friday to stop the Netherlands exporting weapons to Israel and trading with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories, citing high civilian casualties in Israel's war on the Gaza Strip.

According to the plaintiffs, the Dutch state, as a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention, has a duty to take all reasonable measures at its disposal to prevent genocide.

Lawyer Wout Albers, acting for groups including Palestinian rights organisations Al Haq and Al Mezan and pro-Palestinian Jewish organisation Een Ander Joods Geluid, said the Netherlands had failed to take the measures needed by continuing its exports of weapons parts and military cooperation.

"This has to stop immediately," he said.

The case, heard by the district court in The Hague, cites a January order to Israel by the International Court of Justice to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. The plaintiffs cited "extreme numbers of civilian victims killed and wounded and the unprecedented destruction" to argue genocide is taking place.

They also cited arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including persecution, murder and starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

Lawyers for the Dutch state asked judges to dismiss the demands of the NGOs, arguing that it is not up to a judge to dictate foreign policy towards Israel.

"The Dutch state is not contributing to attacks by Israel on the Gaza strip (...) or maintaining settlements" in occupied Palestinian territories, lawyer for the state Reimer Veldhuis told the court.

Reporting by Reuters 

The German government's position on delivering weapons to Israel is "unchanged" after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief, a spokesperson said on Friday.

"Arms deliveries to Israel are always subject to a case-by-case assessment, and that remains the case now," the spokesperson said. "Our attitude towards Israel remains unchanged."

Reporting by Reuters

More aid workers have been killed this year than in any year since tallies began, the UN humanitarian office said on Friday, with most of them killed in Gaza.

So far this year there have been 281 aid worker victims, according to the Aid Worker Security database which has recorded incidents dating back to 1997, versus 280 in 2023 which held the previous record.

It showed 178 had been killed amid Israeli attack across the occupied Palestinian territories including Gaza this year which has been the deadliest conflict for the United Nations. Twenty-five were killed in Sudan, it showed.

"These people are doing God's work, and they're being killed in response. What the hell?" said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office (OCHA), at a Geneva press briefing.

Most of the victims were local staff, while 13 of them were international aid workers, he added.

Aid workers enjoy protection under international humanitarian law but experts cite few precedents for such cases going to trial, with concerns about ensuring future access for aid groups and difficulty proving intent cited as impediments.

"This violence is unconscionable and devastating to aid operations," said UN aid chief Tom Fletcher in a statement.

"States and parties to conflict must protect humanitarians, uphold international law, prosecute those responsible, and call time on this era of impunity," he said.

Reporting by Reuters

An Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese town of Deir Qanoun Ras al-Ain on Friday killed two medics, according to the Lebanese health ministry. 

The Israeli defence minister on Friday ended the use of administrative detention of settlers, a controversial practice used to hold thousands of Palestinians without charge or trial indefinitely. 

The practice has long been used primarily against Palestinians. However, some settlers involved in recent violent attacks against soldiers and Palestinians have been held in administrative detention.  

According to the Israeli Kan public broadcaster, there are currently around 3,500 Palestinians and eight settlers in administrative detention. 

The decision by minister Israel Katz was hailed by other settler government partners, including far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.

"Important and huge news… This is a correction of many years of mistreatment, and justice for those who love the land," said Ben Gvir.

Smotrich welcomed the step for ending "long-standing discrimination against settlers," calling the use of the practice against them "draconian and undemocratic". 

The are around 700,000 Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank in violation of international law. 

China urged the International Criminal Court on Friday to remain objective and fair after it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"China hopes the ICC will uphold an objective and just position (and) exercise its powers in accordance with the law," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in response to a question about the court's warrant for Netanyahu.

The ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday "for crimes against humanity and war crimes" committed between 8 October 2023, and 20 May this year.

It said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe the pair bore "criminal responsibility" for using starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally attacking civilians.

China, which like Israel and the United States is not a member of the ICC, said it "supports any efforts by the international community on the Palestinian issue that are conducive to achieving fairness and justice and upholding the authority of international law".

Lin also accused the United States of "double standards" in response to a question about the US opposition to the court's pursuit of Netanyahu, but its support for a warrant against Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

"China consistently opposes certain countries only using international law when it suits them... and engaging in double standards," Lin said.

US President Joe Biden has condemned the warrants against Israeli leaders, calling them "outrageous".

Reporting by AFP

Israeli air strikes have killed at least 25 people across the Gaza Strip on Friday so far, according to Al Jazeera.   

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday he would invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Hungary, saying he would guarantee that an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Netanyahu would "not be observed".

The ICC issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu and his former defence chief, as well as a Hamas leader, Mohammed Deif, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war.

Orban, whose country holds the European Union's rotating six-month presidency, told state radio that the ICC's arrest warrant was "wrong" and said the Israeli leader would be able to conduct negotiations in Hungary "in adequate safety".

Reporting by Reuters

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon, now in its 413th day:

• Israeli drones bombed the emergency entrance of the war-battered Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza late on Thursday, wounding medical and causing damage, according to health officials. 

• According to Al Jazeera, at least 17 Palestinians have been killed overnight in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip.

• In Lebanon, Israeli jets bombed the southern suburb of Beirut at least four times in the early hours of Friday.

• Over in the US, President Joe Biden came out against the ICC arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, calling them "outrageous" and reaffirming Washington's backing of Israel.