Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is calling for a U.N. resolution demanding an “immediate” ceasefire as Israel intensifies its assault on Lebanon. Israeli airstrikes on Thursday killed at least 22 people and injured more than 100 others in a crowded residential area of Beirut. Survivors recounted the terror of Israel’s overnight strikes as they surveyed the damage to their homes.
Ala’a Baydoun: “I was praying. We heard the first strike, and I thought it was in my house. The second one was much more powerful than the first one. People went down barefoot. They were screaming. We didn’t know anything at the start. I went to see where the strike was, and I saw that in my house the glass and windows had shattered. We came and saw the scene. It was a horrifying scene. It was something unbelievable.”
Meanwhile, U.N. chief António Guterres condemned multiple targeted shootings of U.N. peacekeepers by Israel in southern Lebanon. At least two peacekeepers have been injured. Such attacks violate international law. A U.N. official warned the safety of more than 10,400 peacekeepers in Lebanon was “increasingly in jeopardy” from Israel’s attacks. This is Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.
Andrea Tenenti: “We are there because the Security Council has asked us to be there. So we are staying, until the situation becomes impossible for us to operate. … This is not a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. This is becoming a regional conflict, something that we have been saying for a very long time. And if it’s a regional conflict, everybody will be involved. So it’s a duty for everyone to stop it, because we’ve already seen just in the last few weeks how many people have been killed here — more than the conflict in 2006 in just a few weeks.”
This comes amid fresh warnings of a deteriorating health crisis in Lebanon due to massive displacement and the Israeli targeting of health facilities and workers. After headlines, we’ll speak with a U.S. doctor in Beirut who has been volunteering in Gaza and Lebanon.
