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A view shows the moment of an Israeli strike on a building, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in the Chiyah district of Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, November 25, 2024 [Adnan Abidi/Reuters]
By Lyndal Rowlands, Zaheena Rasheed, Nils Adler and Farah Najjar
Published On 25 Nov 2024

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25 Nov 2024 - 23:59
 (23:59 GMT)

Thank you for joining us

Our latest news story provides all the latest on Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon, here.

Watch this video on the extensive damage caused by a major Hezbollah rocket attack on Israel.

For a feature on the rising popularity of “genocide-free” cola in the United Kingdom, read this. 

25 Nov 2024 - 23:55
 (23:55 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We’ll be closing this live page soon. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

  • At least 31 people in Lebanon were killed in Israeli strikes despite positive comments from both sides that a Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire is close.
  • The WHO says ongoing Israeli attacks on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza resulted in 14 more injuries in the past 48 hours.
  • About 10,000 tents of war-displaced Palestinians were washed away or damaged from a winter storm with Gaza officials appealing for international help.
  • Israel’s coalition government leaders have met the prime minister on Tuesday over the ceasefire proposal with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
  • A top Hamas leader in Lebanon says the Palestinian armed group will support a ceasefire between its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and Israel, despite Hezbollah’s previous promises to stop the fighting in Lebanon only if the war in Gaza ends.
25 Nov 2024 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

Hamas says it supports Hezbollah-Israel truce

A top Hamas leader in Lebanon says the Palestinian armed group will support a ceasefire between its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and Israel – despite Hezbollah’s previous promises to stop fighting only if the war on Gaza ends.

“Any announcement of a ceasefire is welcome. Hezbollah has stood by our people and made significant sacrifices,” Osama Hamdan told the Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen.

There has been no official comment on a potential Lebanon ceasefire from Gaza-based leaders of either Hamas or the smaller armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Hamdan is a member of Hamas’s political wing.

Palestinian fighters in Gaza have repeatedly regrouped after Israeli military incursions, carrying out hit-and-run attacks from tunnels and bombed-out buildings for more than a year.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan speaks in Beirut [File: Hassan Ammar/AP]
25 Nov 2024 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

LISTEN: How will European nations respond to ICC arrest warrants?

Israel and its biggest ally, the United States, furiously attacked the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.

Most European nations say they will execute the warrants if either man steps on their soil.

So, what might happen next?

25 Nov 2024 - 23:15
 (23:15 GMT)

‘We are close to a deal,’ says Israeli ambassador

The Israeli ambassador to Washington says a ceasefire deal to end fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters could be reached “within days”.

Ambassador Mike Herzog told Israeli Army Radio there remain “points to finalise” and any deal requires agreement from the government. But he said, “We are close to a deal.”

Israeli officials said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet will convene on Tuesday to discuss a proposed ceasefire.

Among the issues that remain is an Israeli demand to reserve the right to act militarily should Hezbollah violate its obligations under the emerging deal. The deal seeks to push Hezbollah and Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon.

25 Nov 2024 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)

Death toll rises in Lebanon despite truce talks

In Beirut, Israeli air strikes levelled more of Beirut’s southern suburbs, sending clouds of debris billowing over the Lebanese capital.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israeli attacks killed 31 people and wounded 62 across the country on Monday.

Despite diplomatic progress, hostilities have intensified. Over the weekend, Israel carried out powerful air strikes, one of which killed at least 29 people in central Beirut, while Hezbollah unleashed one of its biggest rocket salvos yet on Sunday, firing 250 missiles into Israel.

25 Nov 2024 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)
Analysis

US-Israeli relationship central to ceasefire deal

Rami Khouri, a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera that a separate agreement between the United States and Israel that would give Israel the ability to strike Hezbollah even after a ceasefire deal if it deemed necessary was a side deal precisely because Lebanon and Hezbollah would never agree to it.

Israel has done this in the past, Khouri said. “[Israel has] got commitments from the US… that the US will always make sure that Israel is militarily stronger than any combination of its foes in the region.”

“And this is quite an extraordinary security guarantee from the US, and these are the kinds of things that happen between Israel and the US, because Israel cannot affirm its legitimacy or security in the region by itself.”

25 Nov 2024 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)
Developing

The Gaza Civil Defence says it is recovering bodies and injured Palestinians following an Israeli attack on az-Zarqa in northern Gaza City.

25 Nov 2024 - 22:15
 (22:15 GMT)
Analysis

Israeli far-right may take advantage of Lebanon deal to continue Gaza war

Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, told Al Jazeera that while the proposed ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon would not deviate much from previous deals, the key would be what happens in the coming weeks and months.

“From Israel’s point of view, the government has been able to eliminate much of the Hezbollah leadership and reduce its capabilities… and an agreement for Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River,” Mekelberg said. “Much of it will depend on domestic affairs within Lebanon: how strong is Hezbollah going to be after the war, can it rearm itself, the relationship with Iran.”

Mekelberg added that there were a lot of unknowns, but that the Israeli goal now was to create a buffer zone patrolled by UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army and allow for the return of Israeli civilians to the north of Israel.

However, he also pointed out that the far-right might seek to take advantage of any deal, and that there would be a trade-off with some of their goals, such as a “permanent presence in at least some of Gaza”.

25 Nov 2024 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)
Developing

US Middle East envoy to head to Saudi Arabia for ceasefire talks

Brett McGurk will be in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss using the potential Lebanon ceasefire deal as a catalyst for ending the conflict in Gaza, the White House has said.

Previous attempts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza have repeatedly failed, with Israel refusing to accept a permanent end to the fighting.

25 Nov 2024 - 21:45
 (21:45 GMT)

Smotrich calls for Gaza’s population to be cut in half

The far-right Israeli finance minister has made the suggestion during a conference organised by the Yesha Council, an organisation representing illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“It is possible to create a situation where Gaza’s population in two years will be less than half its current size,” Smotrich said, according to comments translated into English by Haaretz. “Encouraging voluntary emigration is an opportunity that arises with the new [Trump] administration.”

“It is possible and necessary to take civilian responsibility for Gaza. … The [Israeli military] will need to be there to maintain security, prevent Gaza from rearming and becoming a threat to Israeli citizens again, and, in the process, oversee civilian [affairs],” he added.

25 Nov 2024 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

WATCH: Rejecting warrant for Netanyahu makes the US a ‘rogue superpower’

25 Nov 2024 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)

Israel says Syria strikes targeted Hezbollah smuggling routes

Following up on the reports we had earlier of Israeli strikes on bridges in Syria’s al-Qusayr on the Syrian-Lebanese border, the Israeli military says it was targeting routes used by Hezbollah to smuggle Iranian weapons into Lebanon, according to The Times of Israel.

The military said the strikes were part of its efforts to target Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which it says is responsible for the delivery of weapons from Iran to Lebanon.

25 Nov 2024 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

Americans optimistic about ceasefire, but things could still go wrong

By Alan Fisher

Reporting from Washington, DC

The noise that’s coming out of the Biden administration is that there seems to be some level of optimism that perhaps a ceasefire can be agreed. We heard from John Kirby, the spokesperson for the National Security Council, who believed that things were moving in the right direction.

We didn’t get much different from Matthew Miller at the State Department. He seemed to carry an air of confidence that there was a ceasefire in the offing.

But of course, you have to see everything with a warning, because we’ve had this sort of situation before. This year, US President Joe Biden has talked about the possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza on no less than five occasions. In all of those cases, no deal was reached.

25 Nov 2024 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)

EU’s Borrell visits Beirut hospital

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, paid a visit to the Geitaoui Hospital in Beirut, where he met patients in the specialised burn unit.

“I commend the work of the dedicated yet overwhelmed Lebanese doctors and nurses at the hospital,” Borrell wrote on social media. “The death toll among health workers in Lebanon is unacceptable: 266 have been killed by [Israeli military] strikes since October 8.”

25 Nov 2024 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

With nowhere else to go, Sudanese refugees in Lebanon plead for evacuation

By Mat Nashed

Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

On November 10, Sudanese asylum seekers gathered to listen to Abdel Baqi Othman in a cafe in Lebanon’s capital Beirut.

The well-respected Sudanese activist spoke passionately about how Sudanese asylum seekers were trapped between the civil war in their homeland and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.

Othman urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to relocate registered Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees to Italy, Turkiye or Cyprus until their asylum applications could be processed, or until they could be permanently resettled elsewhere.

In the crowd was Abdelmoniem Yahiya Othman, who held a sign that read, “No racism, no social violence. Stop killing civilians and children,” a plea against the myriad spectres threatening people in the region.

“We know the UN can distribute refugees and asylum seekers to different [safe] countries, but they are not doing anything,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We want to go to a place where the people are not at war.”

You can read more here.

Abdelmoniem Yahiya Othman holds a sign at a protest calling on the UNHCR to evacuate Sudanese asylum seekers in Beirut, Lebanon, on November 10, 2024 [Philippe Pernot/Al Jazeera]
25 Nov 2024 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)

WATCH: Israel’s UN ambassador says Lebanon ceasefire deal is close

25 Nov 2024 - 20:00
 (20:00 GMT)

Israeli strike on town near southern Lebanon’s Tyre kills two

An Israeli strike has hit a house in Bazouriye, a town near the coastal city of Tyre, killing at least two people, Lebanon’s National News Agency reports.

At least one other person has been wounded, it said, adding that rescue efforts are still under way.

25 Nov 2024 - 19:45
 (19:45 GMT)

UN experts call for injured Al Jazeera cameraman to be evacuated from Gaza

Three UN experts have called for Israel to facilitate the medical evacuation of Al Jazeera’s Fadi al-Wahidi from Gaza.

Al-Wahidi is in a coma after he was shot in the neck by an Israeli sniper in October while he was covering an Israeli ground offensive in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. He was wearing protective gear that clearly identified him as a member of the news media.

The plea for his evacuation came from three UN special rapporteurs: Irene Khan, Francesca Albanese and Tlaleng Mofokeng.

“Al-Wahidi has the right to receive urgent medical care, and Israel has an obligation under international law to facilitate that right, but despite his life-threatening medical condition, the lack of medical facilities in Gaza, and urgent and repeated appeals from his doctors, his family and various press and journalist organisations, Israeli authorities continue to refuse to allow his evacuation,” the experts said.

“The killing of Palestinian journalists, their persistent arbitrary arrests and detentions, the continued ban on independent media access into Gaza, persistent internet shutdowns, the destruction of media outlets and displacement of the Gaza media community have severely restricted reporting on the war and hampered documentation,” they added.

“The denial of medical evacuation or delays in approving requests seem to be part of the overall pattern of persecution, threats and attacks by Israel on journalists in the occupied Palestinian territory in blatant defiance of its international obligations. We condemn it wholeheartedly. Access to medical care must not become a weapon to intimidate and silence journalists or anyone that sheds light on the situation in Gaza.”

25 Nov 2024 - 19:30
 (19:30 GMT)
Analysis

Lebanon ceasefire proposal a ‘hard sell’ for Netanyahu to coalition

By Nour Odeh

Reporting from Amman, Jordan

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank

This is basically the proposed formula that’s been there since the beginning of the Israeli assault on Lebanon, which is the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. What it would entail is Hezbollah moving north of the Litani River away from the border with Israel. It would move its heavy weaponry. It would not operate in the south. Instead, the Lebanese army would deploy thousands of troops [there].

In the meantime, the UN observers would continue to do their job and report back to the Security Council. The difference now, after Israel wasn’t able to get Lebanese acceptance of conditions they wanted to impose, is guarantees from the US about what would happen if Israel considers that there are violations of this agreement. And there would be a five-member committee headed by the US to oversee implementation.

Now the meeting of the Israeli cabinet to vote on this has been moved up. It will be held at 4pm local time [14:00 GMT] on Tuesday, and Netanyahu is going to have a hard sell ahead of him to convince his coalition partners that the high goals he set of dismantling Hezbollah, of changing the face of the region, of having the Lebanese revolt and reclaim Lebanon as he said weeks ago – all of that is not going to happen.

The meeting follows an IAEA resolution denouncing Iran for what the nuclear watchdog called a lack of cooperation.

Published On 24 Nov 2024

The Haaretz news outlet called the decision ‘another step in Netanyahu’s journey to dismantle Israeli democracy’.

Published On 24 Nov 2024