Latest in the Middle East: 2 children and a woman crushed to death outside Gaza’s bakery due to food shortage

Two children and a woman were crushed to death on Friday as a crowd of Palestinians pressed for bread at a bakery in the Gaza Strip amid a worsening food crisis in the war-torn areasaid doctors.

The bodies of two girls, aged 13 and 17, and the 50-year-old woman were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, where a doctor confirmed that they died as a result of suffocation due to overcrowding on eel. -Banna bakery. Video from The Associated Press showed their bodies placed next to each other on the floor inside the hospital’s morgue.

The flow of food that Israel has allowed into Gaza has dropped to near the lowest level of the nearly 14-month-old war in the past two months, according to Israeli official figures. The United Nations and aid officials say hunger and desperation are growing among Gaza’s population, almost all of whom depend on humanitarian aid to survive.

Osama Abu Laban, the father of one of the girls, wailed over the loss of his life outside the hospital.

“My wife fell when she heard that she (our daughter) was suffocating. She didn’t know she was dead yet,” he told the AP.

Some bakeries in Gaza were closed for several days last week due to a lack of flour. AP footage taken last week, after it reopened, showed large crowds crowding, screaming and pushing at a bakery in Deir al-Balah.

Palestinians across the Gaza Strip rely heavily on bakeries and charity kitchens, with many able to secure only one meal a day for their families.

In Lebanon, thousands of displaced people began returns to their homes this week after one ceasefire was announced between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah.

Many found their homes reduced to rubble after intense Israeli airstrikes over the past two months leveled entire neighborhoods in eastern and southern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut. Almost 1.2 million people have been displaced.

The ceasefire was the first major sign of progress in the region since the war began more than a year ago, triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza. For Palestinians in Gaza and families of hostages held in the territory, the ceasefire marked another missed opportunity to end fighting that has lasted nearly 14 months.

More than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 injured, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Israel has destroyed large parts of Gaza, displacing almost all of its 2.3 million people.

Here’s the latest:

Hezbollah again begins holding public funerals for its fallen fighters

MAARAKEH, Lebanon – Hezbollah held a public funeral in a southern village on Friday for five of its fighters killed during fighting with Israel. It was the first time the Lebanese militant group held a public funeral since the war intensified in late September.

“My son is in heaven,” said Zeinab al-Haj, carrying a bag or roses to throw on her son Ali Hijazi’s coffin during the ceremony in the village of Maarakeh. Hijazi died of wounds sustained in an airstrike last week.

Hezbollah’s last public funeral was held on September 27, the same day as the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut.

“We are people who are proud of their martyrs,” said Hezbollah’s media chief in southern Lebanon Salman Harb. “Our martyrs are the symbol of our victory by all means.”

After a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on Wednesday, the group resumed announcing its fallen fighters. More burials are expected in the coming days, including the burial of three more fighters in Maarakeh on Saturday.

Hezbollah had announced that nearly 500 fighters had died before September 23 as the war intensified. Since late September, Hezbollah is believed to have lost hundreds of fighters whose funerals will be held each time their bodies are found.

Hezbollah is also expected to hold a funeral for Nasrallah and other top officials, including his successor Hashem Safieddine, who was killed in an airstrike in early October.

Hezbollah chief says group agreed to ceasefire deal ‘from a position of strength’

BEIRUT – Hezbollah chief Naim Kassem said Friday the militant group will coordinate closely with the Lebanese military to implement the US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel that followed nearly 14 months of intense fighting.

He also claimed that with the deal, Hezbollah achieved “a great victory that surpasses the victory of July 2006”, the last time the Iran-backed group was at war with Israel.

“The ceasefire agreement is consistent with Lebanese sovereignty and we have accepted it from a position of strength,” he claimed, speaking in a pre-recorded message from an undisclosed location on the third day of the ceasefire.

Kassem added that there would be no confrontation between Hezbollah fighters and the Lebanese army. “Don’t create any discord or friction between us and the army,” he said. “The army will be deployed in its country, which is also ours.”

Kassem also promised that Hezbollah will help “in reconstruction and cooperation with the state and all organizations and countries willing to help Lebanon, with the aim of making Lebanon more beautiful than it was.”

The World Bank estimates that Lebanon’s economic losses from the conflict – which was initially limited to the border but escalated dramatically in mid-September – exceed $8 billion, further straining a country already hit by a series of cascading crises since 2019.

Israel’s military says it has hit a site with a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon

JERUSALEM – Israel’s military said it struck an area in southern Lebanon where it detected the movement of a Hezbollah rocket launcher on Friday, the third day of a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel.

In the statement about the airstrike, the military said it would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”

The attack followed several Israeli military strikes in southern Lebanon earlier in the day, reported by Lebanese state media, and an Israeli drone strike on a Hezbollah weapons depot on Thursday.

There was no immediate comment from the Lebanese army, which has repeatedly accused Israel of breaking the ceasefire since it took effect.

Hamas claims attack on Israeli bus in West Bank that injured 8 people, including 4 soldiers

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Hamas claimed responsibility for a shooting attack on an Israeli bus in the occupied West Bank on Friday that wounded eight people, including four soldiers.

It was the latest violence to roil the territory as tensions run high 14 months into the Israel-Hamas war.

The attacker, whom Hamas identified in a statement as Samer Hussein, 46, was killed by Israeli troops shortly after opening fire on the bus at an intersection near the Israeli settlement of Ariel.

The military said four soldiers were slightly wounded. Paramedics said three people were seriously injured.

Attacks by Palestinian militants on Israelis in the volatile territory have become more common since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, as Palestinian deaths have also increased. Israeli fire has killed 796 Palestinians since 7 October 2023, mostly in military raids on Palestinian towns and cities. Settler attacks on Palestinians and their property have also increased.

Lebanon’s state media says Israel carried out several attacks in the south

BEIRUT – The Israeli army carried out several strikes in southern Lebanon on Friday, the third day of the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, Lebanon’s state media said.

Artillery bombardment hit the villages of Markaba, Talusa and Khiyam, while four Israeli tanks moved into the western part of Khiyam, the report said, adding that an Israeli tank fired at a house in Nabatiyeh province.

Local media also reported that the Israeli army fired on civilians in the nearby village of Bint Jbeil. No injuries were immediately reported, and The Associated Press was not immediately able to confirm the claims.

The armies of Israel and Lebanon did not comment on the alleged attacks.

Lebanon politician calls on Hezbollah to cooperate with Lebanese army

BEIRUT – The leader of a leading Christian political party in Lebanon has called on Hezbollah to engage with the Lebanese army and devise a plan to dismantle its military infrastructure south and north of the Litani River.

In a press conference on Friday, Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces party, criticized Hezbollah for opening a front with Israel and accused the militant Shiite group of committing a “major crime” against the Lebanese people.

“We could have avoided the martyrdom of more than 4,000 people, the displacement of thousands and the destruction across the country,” Geagea said. “Despite all these tragedies, Hezbollah continues to talk about victory using a bizarre and disconnected logic that has no basis in reality.”

Geagea’s comments came two days after a US-brokered ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel took effect. More than 3,900 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah escalated.

Geagea, whose Lebanese Forces party has the largest bloc in Lebanon’s 128-member parliament, also addressed Lebanon’s presidential impasse. The country has been without a president for more than two years.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has scheduled a session for the presidential election in January. “Consultations with opposition factions and our allies will begin in the coming days to explore the possibility of agreeing on presidential candidates and bringing them to parliament,” Geagea said.

2 children and a woman crushed to death outside Gaza’s bakery

Two children and a 50-year-old woman were crushed to death on Friday when a mob of Palestinians pressed for bread at a bakery in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, medics said.

The flow of food that Israel has allowed into Gaza has dropped to near its lowest level in the nearly 14-month-old war in the past two months, according to Israeli official figures. The United Nations and aid officials say hunger and desperation are growing among Gaza’s population, almost all of whom depend on humanitarian aid to survive.

A doctor at Al-Aqsa Hospital confirmed that the three died of suffocation due to overcrowding in the al-Banna bakery in Deir al-Balah.

Some bakeries in Gaza were closed for several days last week due to a lack of flour. AP footage taken last week, after they reopened, showed large crowds crowding, screaming and pushing at a bakery in Deir al-Balah. Bread bags are now sold on the black market near bakeries for up to $17 each.

Palestinians across the Gaza Strip rely heavily on bakeries and charity kitchens, with many able to secure only one meal a day for their families.

Osama Abu Laban, the father of one of the girls killed on Friday, mourned the loss of his life outside the hospital.

“My wife fell when she heard that she (our daughter) was suffocating. She didn’t know she was dead yet,” he told the AP. He added that he had also lost his son, father, uncle and cousins, all in northern Gaza.

Several women gathered inside the mortuary to mourn their dead relatives, with one woman screaming “they went to buy bread, they broke them.”

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