Two people killed in UN vehicle in Lebanon, strike movement in Israel

Since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in October, Lebanese Hezbollah has exchanged daily cross-border fire with Israel, claiming to support its Palestinian ally.

According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, whose reports are not verifiable, the offensive in the Gaza Strip has left at least 40,786 people dead in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war with Israel. At least 48 people have been killed in the past 24 hours, the ministry said in a press release. The war has claimed the lives of 1,199 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) count based on official data.

Two dead in UN vehicle in Lebanon

Two people were killed on Monday, September 2, in an Israeli attack targeting their vehicle in Naqoura, southern Lebanon, according to the Ministry of Health, which did not specify whether they were civilians. The National News Agency (ANI) reported a drone attack on the Naqoura road, without giving further details.

“The car attacked belonged to a cleaning company contracted by the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon. [Finul] »deployed on the border with Israel, a security source said on condition of anonymity. The two victims are “An employee of this company and a cousin, both from Naqura. His cousin, who lives in an African country, arrived in Lebanon two days ago.”The source added. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television channel reported that both of the deaths in Naqura were civilians. A photographer working with AFP said he saw the burned-out car.

According to the UN, more than 110,000 people have been displaced in southern Lebanon by cross-border exchanges of fire, which have left 609 dead, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also 132 civilians, according to an AFP count. On the Israeli side, according to the army, 24 soldiers and 26 civilians were killed.

In Israel, strike movement for the release of hostages

A strike movement in Israel called by the powerful Histadrut trade union centre to increase pressure on the government to obtain the release of hostages in Gaza had a mixed response on Monday afternoon. The trade union centre called on Sunday for a “general strike”Following mass demonstrations to protest against the announcement of the death of six hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and killed “point blank”according to the Israeli Ministry of Health.

Several major cities, including Tel Aviv and Haifa, followed the call for a strike and announced the closure of municipal services on Monday. Disruptions were also reported at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport, where departures partially resumed at 9 a.m. after two hours of total disruption. But several municipalities, notably Jerusalem, did not follow the call.

Polio vaccination in Gaza

There “humanitarian pause” A localised, limited-duration campaign aimed at facilitating the UN-led campaign was held in central Gaza on Sunday, resulting in the vaccination of 87,000 children, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) figures reported by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. The aim is to vaccinate more than 640,000 children under the age of 10, following the first confirmed case of the disease on Palestinian territory in 25 years.

However, Israeli shelling and fighting have not abated in intensity elsewhere in Gaza. Airstrikes on Monday killed at least seven people in Gaza City and six others in the al-Boureij and Nusseirat refugee camps, health officials said. The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad reported fighting across the Gaza Strip.

The war has caused a humanitarian and health disaster and the displacement of almost all of the 2.4 million inhabitants. According to the UN, the majority of the dead are women and children.