US envoy pushes for cease-fire in Lebanon as food crisis worsens after looting in Gaza
Beirut, Nov 19: A United States envoy returned to Beirut on Tuesday, where Lebanese officials have tentatively welcomed a proposal for an Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire. There was no such optimism in the Gaza Strip, where the mass looting of aid trucks by armed men worsened an already severe food crisis.
Amos Hochstein, the Biden administration's pointman on Israel and Lebanon, arrived as Hezbollah's allies in the Lebanese government said it had responded positively to the proposal, which would entail both the group and Israeli ground forces withdrawing from a UN buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
It's unclear how close they are to clinching an agreement. The buffer zone would be policed by thousands of additional UN peacekeepers and Lebanese troops. Israel has called for a stronger enforcement mechanism, potentially including the ability to operate against any Hezbollah threats, something Lebanon is likely to oppose.
In Gaza, meanwhile, the theft of nearly 100 trucks loaded with food and other humanitarian aid over the weekend sent prices soaring and caused shortages in central Gaza, where most of the population of 2.3 million people have fled and where hundreds of thousands are crammed into squalid tent camps.
An even more severe hunger crisis is underway in the north, where Israel has been waging a weekslong offensive that has killed hundreds of people and driven tens of thousands from their homes. Experts say a famine might already have set in there.
Food prices soar in central Gaza after looting
On Monday, a crowd of people waited outside a shuttered bakery in the central city of Deir al-Balah. A woman who had been displaced from Gaza City, identifying herself as Umm Shadi, said the price of flour had climbed to 400 shekels (over $100) a bag, if it can even be found.
Nora Muhanna, another woman displaced from Gaza City, said she was leaving empty-handed after waiting five hours for a bag of bread for her children. “From the beginning, there are no goods, and even if they are available, there is no money,” she said.
The United Nations said armed men stole food and other aid from 98 trucks over the weekend, the largest single incident of its kind since the start of the war. It did not say who was behind the theft.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the convoy of 109 trucks was instructed by the Israeli military to take an “alternative, unfamiliar route” after the aid was brought in through the Kerem Shalom crossing, and that the trucks were stolen near the crossing itself.
Israel has long accused Hamas of stealing aid, allegations denied by the group.
Al-Aqsa TV, a media outlet operated by the group, said Hamas-run security forces in Gaza had launched an operation against looters, killing 20 of them. The report implied that members of tribal groups near Rafah were behind the theft.
The Hamas-run government had a police force of tens of thousands that maintained a high degree of public security before the war, but they have vanished from the streets in many areas after being targeted by Israeli strikes. Hamas says it has taken measures to prevent both looting and price-gouging in local markets.
Wars rage on in Biden administration's final months
Hamas ignited the war in Gaza when its fighters stormed into Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 43,800 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their toll. The war has left much of the territory in ruins and forced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million to flee, often multiple times.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after the Hamas attack in what it said was solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas, a fellow Iran-backed group. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes, and all-out war erupted in September.
The fighting has left more than 3,500 dead in Lebanon and almost 15,000 wounded, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. It also displaced nearly 1.2 million, or a quarter of Lebanon's population. On the Israeli side, 87 soldiers and 50 civilians have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles.
The Biden administration has spent several months trying to broker cease-fires on both fronts. It appears to have made some progress in Lebanon, while talks over a cease-fire and the release of hostages held in Gaza stalled over the summer.
US President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end the wars in the Middle East without saying how he would do it. He was a staunch supporter of Israel and its hawkish government during his first term.
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Vinod Tawde seeks apology from Kharge, Rahul through legal notice, warns of defamation lawsuit
Cash-for-vote row
New Delhi, Nov 22: BJP leader Vinod Tawde has demanded an apology from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for making "false and baseless" allegations against him in the cash-for-votes incident in Maharashtra, saying if they don't he would sue them for defamation.
Tawde was accused by Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, a regional party, of distributing Rs 5 crore to woo voters, with its members barging into a hotel room on November 19 in a Mumbai suburb, where the BJP leader was present.
The former Maharashtra minister and BJP national general secretary claimed innocence, saying the alleged amount was not recovered in the probe by the Election Commission and police.
"The Congress only believes in spreading lies, and this incident is a proof of the party's low level politics to dent me and my party's image," Tawde said.
The two Congress leaders and the party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate seized on the row to accuse the BJP of using money power to influence the November 20 assembly polls in the state.
The legal notice sent to the three claimed that they were aware that they were pushing a "totally false story fabricated" by them.
"You all have deliberately, mischievously with the sole intention of damaging the reputation of our client intentionally fabricated the story distribution of money. You all have published false, baseless allegations against our client on various media for tarnishing his image in the eyes of right thinking people in the society," the notice read.
The Congress leaders were in a "great hurry" to damage Tawde's reputation, they did not bother to check the fact and or despite knowing the entire fact they made the false, baseless allegations, it said.
"The entire imputation made by you all are totally false, baseless, malicious and mala fide and as our client is in no way involved in any such illegal activity and as a responsible office bearer of the national political party he is aware of his duties," it added.
The notice demanded an "unconditional apology" to Tawde within 24 hours from the time the receipt of the notice, which was sent on November 21, and published in newspapers and X.
If they do not offer apology, then Tawde will initiate criminal proceedings under Section 356, which covers defamation, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and also civil proceedings for the damages of Rs 100 crore against the three Congress leaders, the notice said.
