On the eve of French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Israel, over 19,000 people are reported displaced in Lebanon. This as Hamas continues to fire drones and rockets and Israel steps up the shelling of Gaza.
Following EU and US leaders, Macron is to visit Israel on Tuesday. Diplomatic activity has so far prevented a massive ground assault by the Israeli ground forces, but Jerusalem is not letting up on air strikes, while engaging combattants in skirmishes in Gaza's border areas.
Fighting has raged for more than two weeks after Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel on 7 October, killing at least 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials.
More than 5,000 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed across Gaza in relentless Israeli bombardments in retaliation for the attacks, the Hamas-run health ministry said on Monday.
Hezbollah
Sporadic fighting between Israel and Hamas's Lebanese ally Hezbollah has also been taking place along Israel's northern border.
More than 19,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon amid an uptick in tensions between Israel and Hezbollah at the country's southern border, figures released Monday by a United Nations agency showed.
"An increase in cross-border incidents" has resulted in the displacement of 19,646 people in Lebanon, "both within the south and elsewhere within the country", said the International Organization for Migration.
Between the 10th and 21st of October, about 19,646 persons mostly from South #Lebanon 🇱🇧 and other regions in the country fled their homes due to cross-border incidents at the Lebanese southern borders, according to @DTM_IOM.
— IOM MENA (@IOM_MENA) October 23, 2023
More details: https://t.co/BOlOMsLsQA pic.twitter.com/Hual1OSTCg
Drones
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said Monday it had "thwarted" an attack from Gaza by two drones that was claimed by Hamas.
"Two UAVs were identified crossing from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory" at Nir Oz and Ein HaBesor near the border, the army said. "Both UAVs were thwarted," a statement added, without stating whether they were shot down.
Hamas, which used drones in their 7 October attack on Israel, said on social media that "Israeli military posts" were the targets of the latest raid.
Earlier on, Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh on Monday accused Western nations of giving Israel a "licence to kill" in its war against the Gaza Strip's Hamas.
Israel has been bombing Gaza since Hamas gunmen poured across its border with the Palestinian territory on 7 October and, according to Israeli officials, killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
Gaza's Hamas-controlled health ministry on Monday said more than 5,000 people, also mainly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli bombardment. French news agency AFP has been unable to independently verify the tolls.
"What we hear from the mouth of the occupation (Israeli) leaders on preparations for a land invasion means more crimes, atrocities and forced displacement," Shtayyeh told the start of a Palestinian Authority government meeting.
"We condemn the statements that constitute a licence to kill and give Israel political cover to commit massacres and spread destruction in Gaza," he added.
US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other leaders have visited Israel in recent days reaffirming its "right to defend" itself, while calling on the Israeli government to stay within international humanitarian law.
Biden and the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy reaffirmed the stance in a statement released Sunday after video talks.
(With newswires)
