Israeli airstrikes killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip in the past day, including 11 at a makeshift cafeteria in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone, medics said. In Lebanon, warplanes struck Beirut’s southern suburbs and killed 33 people elsewhere in the country on Tuesday. The latest bombardment came as the United States said it would not reduce its military support for Israel after a deadline passed for allowing more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The State Department cited some progress, even as international aid groups said Israel had failed to meet the U.S. demands. In Lebanon, large explosions shook Beirut’s southern suburbs — an area known as Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah has a significant presence — soon after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for 11 houses there. There was no immediate word on casualties. The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure, including command centers and weapons production sites, without providing evidence. Another Israeli strike on an apartment building east of Beirut killed at least six people. Wael Murtada said the destroyed home belonged to his uncle and that those inside had fled from the Dahiyeh last month. He said three children were among the dead and other people were missing. An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in central Lebanon killed 15 people, including eight women and four children, and wounded at least 12 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. The strike came without warning, and state media said the building was sheltering displaced families. Israel has been carrying out intensified bombardment of Lebanon since late September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and stop more than a year of cross-border fire by the Lebanese militant group. A rocket exploded in a storage building in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya on Tuesday, killing two people, first responders said. Another two people were wounded by shrapnel in a separate impact outside the town. A Hezbollah drone smashed into a nursery school near the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Tuesday morning, but the children were inside a bomb shelter and there were no injuries. The impact scattered debris across the playground. Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 46 At the same time, Israel has continued its 13-month campaign in Gaza set off by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel. An Israeli strike late Monday hit a makeshift cafeteria used by displaced people in Muwasi, the center of a “humanitarian zone” that Israel’s military declared earlier in the war. At least 11 people were killed, including two children, according to officials at Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were taken. Video from the scene showed men pulling bloodied wounded from among tables and chairs set up in the sand in an enclosure made of corrugated metal sheets. Read: Israeli strikes kill 14 Palestinians in Gaza A strike on a house in the northern town of Beit Hanoun killed 15 people on Tuesday, including relatives of Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabat, who has been reporting from the north. Mohamed Shabat and his wife Dima, both volunteer doctors at Kamal Adwan Hospital, were killed along with their daughter Eliaa, according to hospital director Hossam Abu Safiya. Strikes in central and southern Gaza killed another 20 people, according to Palestinian medical officials. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes. Under US pressure, Israel allows more aid into Gaza Hours earlier, the Israeli military announced a small expansion of the humanitarian zone, where it has told Palestinians evacuating from other parts of Gaza to take refuge. Hundreds of thousands are sheltering in sprawling tent camps in and around Muwasi, a desolate area with few public services. Israeli forces have also been besieging the northernmost part of Gaza since the beginning of October, battling Hamas fighters it says regrouped there. With virtually no food or aid allowed in for more than a month, the siege has raised fears of famine among the tens of thousands of Palestinians believed to still be sheltering there. The United States gave Israel a 30-day deadline — that expired this week — to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, calling on it to allow at least 350 truckloads to enter each day, among other things. So far, Israel has fallen short. In October, 57 trucks a day entered Gaza on average, and 75 a day so far in November, according to Israel’s official figures. The United Nations puts the number lower, at 39 trucks daily since the beginning of October. Israel has announced a flurry of measures in recent days to increase aid, including opening a new crossing into central Gaza and some small deliveries of food and water to the north. But so far the impact is unclear. More forced evacuations in isolated northern Gaza The military announced Tuesday that four soldiers were killed in Jabaliya, bringing to 24 the number of soldiers killed in the assault there since it began. Palestinian health officials say hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, though the true numbers are unknown as rescue workers are unable to reach buildings destroyed in strikes. Israel has ordered residents in the area to evacuate. But the U.N. has estimated some 70,000 people remain. Read more: Saudi Crown Prince demands immediate end to Israel’s war in Gaza, Lebanon Many Palestinians there fear Israel aims to permanently depopulate the area to more easily keep control of it. On Tuesday, witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli troops had encircled at least three schools in Beit Hanoun, forcing hundreds of displaced people sheltering inside to leave. Drones blared announcements demanding people move south to Gaza City, said Mahmoud al-Kafarnah, speaking from one of the schools as sounds of gunfire could be heard. “The tanks are outside,” he said. “We don’t know where to go.” Hashim Afanah, sheltering with at least 20 other people in his family home, said the forces were evicting people from houses and shelters. The U.N.’s top humanitarian official, Joyce Msuya, told the Security Council on Tuesday that “acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes” are being committed in Gaza. “The daily cruelty we see in Gaza seems to have no limits,” she said, pointing to recent developments in Beit Hanoun. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities that do not distinguish between civilians and militants in their count but say more than half the dead are women and children. Israel says it targets Hamas militants who hide among civilians. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted about 250 as hostages. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” and called for a total Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza. The prince also criticised Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Iran  at a summit of Muslim and Arab leaders. In a sign of improving ties between rivals Riyadh and Tehran, he warned Israel against launching attacks on Iranian soil, reports BBC. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said it was a “failing of the international community” that the war in Gaza had not been stopped, accusing Israel of causing starvation in the territory Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al-Saud said: "Where the international community primarily has failed is ending the immediate conflict and putting an end to Israel’s aggression.” The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack, which saw hundreds of gunmen enter southern Israel. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage. Israel retaliated by launching a military campaign to destroy Hamas, during which more than 43,400 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Read more: Traumatized by war, hundreds of Lebanon's children struggle with wounds both physical and emotional A report by the UN’s Human Rights Office found that close to 70% of verified victims over a six-month period in Gaza were women and children. Leaders at the summit also condemned what they described as Israel's “continuous attacks” against UN staff and facilities in Gaza. In the backdrop of the well-attended summit, is Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Gulf leaders are aware of his closeness to Israel, but they also have good relations with him, and want him to use his influence and his fondness for deal-making to secure an end to conflicts in this region. In Saudi Arabia, Trump is viewed much more favourably than Joe Biden, but his track record in the Middle East is mixed. He pleased Israel and angered the Muslim world by recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as well as the annexation of the occupied Golan Heights.

One hundred eighty three more Bangladeshi nationals evacuated from war-torn Lebanon arrived in Dhaka early Wednesday.With them, a total of 521 Bangladeshi nationals have returned home from Lebanon through nine flights.Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment, and International Organization for Migration (IOM) welcomed the repatriated Bangladeshis at Shahjalal International Airport.They landed here around 1 am by a flight of Sky Vision Airlines. Bangladeshi expat killed in Israeli air strike in Lebanon: EmbassyEach repatriated Bangladeshi received financial assistance of Tk 5,000, along with food items and medical care.So far, one Bangladeshi has been killed in a bombing incident in Lebanon.These evacuees are among around 1,800 Bangladeshi nationals who expressed their wish to voluntarily return due to the deteriorating security conditions in Lebanon.

A Bangladeshi expatriate was killed in an Israeli airstrike in war-torn Lebanon on his way to work, said the Bangladesh Embassy on Sunday. The fatality occurred in the Grazmiye area of Beirut on Saturday afternoon (local time), they said.   The deceased was identified as Mohammad Nizam Uddin, son of Mohammad Abdul Quddus of Khaira area of Kasba Upazila in Brahmanbaria. He aged around 31bearing the passport No- EF0620043. Nizam's wife is in Lebanon now, and officials at the Embassy have already spoken to her. "They are in contact with her. She has been informed that it will not be possible to bring back the body to Bangladesh due to the lack of flights amid war situation," said a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Bangladesh Ambassador to Lebanon, Air Vice Marshal Javed Tanveer Khan expressed grief over the death of the remittance fighter and sought forgiveness for his departed soul and extended condolences to the bereaved family members.  

Dany Alwan stood shaking as rescue workers pulled remains from piles of rubble where his brother’s building once stood. An Israeli airstrike destroyed the three-story residential building in the quiet Christian village of Aito a day before. His brother, Elie, had rented out its apartments to a friend who'd fled here with relatives from their hometown in southern Lebanon under Israeli bombardment. UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon staying put despite Israeli warnings to move Things were fine for a few weeks. But that day, minutes after visitors arrived and entered the building, it was struck. Almost two dozen people were killed, half of them women and children. Israel said it targeted a Hezbollah official, as it has insisted in other strikes with high civilian death tolls. This strike — in northern Lebanon, deep in Christian heartland — was particularly unusual. Israel has concentrated its bombardment mostly in the country’s south and east and in Beirut's southern suburbs — Shiite-majority areas where the Hezbollah militant group has a strong presence. Strikes in the traditionally “safe” areas where many displaced families have fled are raising fears among local residents. Many feel they have to choose between helping compatriots and protecting themselves. “We can’t welcome people anymore,” Alwan said as rescue teams combed through the rubble in Aito. “The situation is very critical in the village, and this is the first time something like this has happened to us.” The war brings out long-running tensionsAito is in the Zgharta province, which is split between Christian factions who are supporters and critics of Hezbollah. Some Christian legislators critical of Hezbollah have warned of the security risks that could come with hosting displaced people, mostly from the Shia Muslim community. They worry that many may have familial and social ties to Hezbollah, which in addition to its armed wing has civilian services across southern and eastern Lebanon. Some also worry that long-term displacement could create demographic changes and weaken the Christian share in Lebanon’s fragile sectarian power-sharing system. The tiny country has a troubled history of sectarian strife and violence, most notably in a 15-year civil war that ended in 1990. Lebanon for decades has struggled to navigate tensions and political gridlock within its sectarian power-sharing government system. Parliament is deeply divided among factions that back and oppose Hezbollah and has been without a president for almost two years. When Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinian ally Hamas in the war-torn Gaza Strip, the move was met with mixed feelings. Critics say it was a miscalculation that has brought the widespread devastation of Gaza here. Many have been moved to helpAfter nearly a year of low-level fighting, the Israeli military escalated its attacks against Hezbollah a month ago, launching daily aerial bombardments and a ground invasion. Most of Lebanon’s estimated 1.2 million displaced people fled over the past month. In late September, traffic jams stretching for miles clogged streets leading to Beirut as people left, some with nothing but the clothes on their backs. For many, the violence has moved them to help their fellow residents, cutting across sectarian lines. Michella Sfeir, who was safe in the north, said she wanted to take action after seeing a picture of a driver pouring water from his bottle into a nearby driver’s empty one. “The first thing you can think of is: How can I help immediately?” she said. She now helps prepare meals at a women’s art center that's become a community kitchen and donation dropoff center for blankets, clothes, and supplies in Aqaibe, a seaside town just north of Beirut. Displaced women who found shelter in surrounding neighborhoods regularly visit, while some people involved in other initiatives help deliver the hot meals to shelters around dinnertime. “We get lots of questions like, ‘When you go to give the help, is there a member of Hezbollah waiting for you at the door?’” Sfeir said, citing blowback in the community from people who perceive the displaced as Hezbollah members, supporters and relatives. “Some people ... would ask us ‘Why are you helping them? They don’t deserve it; this is because of them.'” Anxiety rises far from the borderThough northern coastal cities such as Byblos and Batroun with pristine beaches and ancient ruins have not felt the direct pain of the conflict, anxiety is rising in surrounding areas. On one coastal road — the busy Jounieh highway — an Israeli drone struck a car earlier this month, killing a man and his wife. Such rare but increasing Israeli strikes have rattled residents in the north. Many feel torn: Should they risk their security by hosting displaced people, or compromise their morals and turn them away? Zeinab Rihan fled north with family and relatives from the southern Nabatiyeh province when they couldn’t bear the airstrikes approaching closer to their homes. But, Rihan said, they found many landlords quoting outlandish rent figures in an apparent attempt to turn them away. Some might have been acting out of personal prejudice, Rihan said, but it's likely most were simply afraid. “They were scared that they might rent their place to someone who turns out to be targeted,” Rihan said. “But this is our current reality, what can we do?” For some, helping is a sense of dutyA resident of one northern town near the coast said the local government didn't want to welcome displaced people, but many residents pressured the municipality to change course. He cited the town’s common sympathy and sense of duty to help others, despite the security risks. He spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of stirring tension among residents. Elsewhere, in the hilly village of Ebrine, a stone’s throw away from Batroun, residents have been regularly visiting dozens of displaced families sheltering in two modest schools. This month, an Israeli strike hit a village a short drive away, but that hasn't stopped some residents from hiring the displaced — for some, to work in olive groves during the harvest season. Back in Aqaibe, some displaced women from nearby areas have joined Sfeir and others volunteering at the kitchen: chopping vegetables, cooking rice in vats, packaging meals in plastic containers, and having coffee together on the balcony. “Just because we’re in an area that doesn’t have direct conflict or direct war doesn’t mean that we’re not worried about Beirut or the south,” said Flavia Bechara, who founded the center, as she took a break from chopping onions and potatoes. “We all used to eat the olives and olive oil of the south, and we used to go there to get fruits and vegetables.” Bechara and several women finished packing dozens of meals for the day, and a group of women came to pick up winter clothes for their kids. Bechara said she isn’t phased by the criticism or questions she gets from some of her neighbors. “There’s always anxiety," said Bechara, who just recently could hear strikes a short drive away, in Maisra. "There’s always (the fear) that what is happening there can happen here at any moment.”

An Israeli airstrike on a compound housing journalists in southeast Lebanon has killed three media staffers, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Friday. The Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV said two of its staffers were among the journalists killed early Friday. Al-Manar TV of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said its camera operator Wissam Qassim was killed in the airstrike on the Hasbaya region, that has been spared much of the fighting along the border so far. UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon staying put despite Israeli warnings to move Al-Mayadeen said camera operator Ghassan Najar and broadcast technician Mohammed Rida died. Local news station Al Jadeed aired footage from the scene — a collection of chalets that had been rented by various media outlets — showing collapsed buildings and cars marked PRESS covered in dust and rubble. The Israeli army did not issue a warning prior to the strike. Earlier in the week, a strike hit an office belonging to Al-Mayadeen on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Several journalists have been killed since near-daily exchange of fire began along the Lebanon-Israel border on Oct. 8, 2023. In November 2023, two journalists for Al-Mayadeen TV were killed in a drone strike. A month earlier, Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded other journalists from France’s international news agency, Agence France-Presse, and Qatar’s Al-Jazeera TV.

Sixty-five more Bangladeshi nationals evacuated from Lebanon arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday by a Saudi Arabian commercial flight. The aircraft, SV-810, carrying the Bangladeshis, including women and children, landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) this evening via Jeddah, according to a press release. Besides, 31 more Bangladeshis have already left for Dhaka in SV-802 of the same airline. On arrival at Dhaka airport, the repatriated Bangladeshi citizens were welcomed by the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Each repatriated Bangladeshi received financial assistance of Tk 5,000, along with food items and medical care.

Nearly 16 hours after an Israeli airstrike hit across the street from Beirut’s main public hospital, rescuers were still removing debris Tuesday from the overcrowded slum area. An excavator was digging at one of the destroyed buildings, picking out twisted metal and bricks in search for bodies. Residents standing on mounds of debris said an entire family remained missing under the rubble. Mohammad Ibrahim, a Sudanese national, came looking for his brother. “His mobile phone is still ringing. We are trying to search for him,” he said. “I don’t know if he is dead or alive.” Hours later, health officials said five bodies had been recovered from under the rubble. At least 18 people were killed, including four children, and at least 60 wounded in the strike that also caused damage across the street at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the capital’s main public medical facility. Jihad Saadeh, director of the Rafik Hariri Hospital, said the strike broke several glass windows and the solar panels of the medical facility, which continued to operate despite the damage and the panic. None of the staff was injured. Saadeh said the hospital received no warning of the impending strike, just a few meters (yards) across the street. Neither did the residents of the slum area, where several buildings were crammed and which houses several migrant workers as well as working class Lebanese. The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah target, without elaborating. It added had not targeted the hospital itself. It was hard for rescue equipment to reach the area of clustered settlements and dusty narrow roads. Nizar, one of the rescuers, said he had been at the site of the explosion since Monday night. “It was too dark and there was so much panic,” he said, giving only his first name in line with the rescue team’s regulations. “People didn’t understand yet what had happened.” The overcrowded slum was covered in debris, furniture and remains of life poking out of the twisted metal and broken bricks. Residents who survived the massive explosion were still in shock, some still searching through the debris with their hands for their relatives or what is left of their lives. Gunmen stood guard at the site. The Lebanese Civil Defense said Tuesday five buildings were destroyed and 12 sustained severe damage. The dead included one Sudanese and at least one Syrian. “This is a very crowded area; buildings are very close. The destruction is massive,” Nizar said, explaining that the scale of the damage made their rescue effort harder. Across the street, the hospital was still treating a few of the injured. The morgue had received 13 bodies. Hussein al-Ali, a nurse who was there when the attack happened, said it took him a few minutes to realize it was not the hospital that was hit. Dust and smoke covered the hospital lobby. The glass in the dialysis unit, the pharmacy and other rooms in the hospital was shattered. The false roof fell over his and his colleagues' heads. “We were terrified. This is a crime,” said al-Ali. “It felt like judgement day.” It took only minutes for the injured from across the street to start streaming in. Al-Ali said he had little time to breathe or reassure his terrified colleagues and the rattled patients. “Staff and patients thought the strike was here. We fled outside as the injured were coming in,” he said. And when he was done admitting the injured, “we came out to carry our (killed) neighbors. They are our neighbors.” Ola Eid survived the strike. She helped dig out her neighbors’ children from under the rubble, before realizing she herself was injured. “The problem is we didn’t feel it. They didn’t inform us. We heard they want to strike al-Sahel hospital,” said Eid, bandaged and still in shock sitting at the hospital gate. Israel had hinted another hospital miles away could possibly be a target, alleging it is housing tunnels used by the Hezbollah militant group. Eid, an actor, said she was playing with her neighbor’s kids when the first explosion hit. It knocked her to the floor and scattered the candy she was handing out to the kids. She stood up, not believing she was still alive, to find her neighbor’s kid soaked in blood. One was killed immediately; the other remained in intensive care. At least 22 killed in airstrikes in central Beirut, with Israel also firing on UN peacekeepers “I looked ahead and saw the kids torn apart and hurt,” she said. “The gas canisters were on fire. I didn’t know what to do — put out the fire or remove the kids.”

Israel said late Monday it planned to carry out more strikes in Lebanon against a Hezbollah-run financial institution that it targeted the night before and which it says uses customers' deposits to finance attacks against Israel. At least 15 branches of Al-Qard Al-Hasan were hit late Sunday in the southern neighborhoods of Beirut, across southern Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. One strike flattened a nine-story building in Beirut with a branch inside it. The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes, and there were no reports of casualties. UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon staying put despite Israeli warnings to move Associated Press journalists witnessed strikes late Monday in the coastal region of Ouzai, near Beirut’s airport, and Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an airstrike near Beirut’s largest public hospital killed four, including a child, and wounded 24. It was the first strike on the Lebanese capital in 10 days. Israeli ground forces invaded Lebanon earlier this month. The military said it aims to push Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon so that tens of thousands of Israelis can return to their homes nearby after more than a year of cross-border rocket and drone attacks. Israeli airstrikes have pounded large areas of Lebanon for weeks, forcing over a million people to flee their homes. Hezbollah has been launching rockets into Israel nearly every day since Hamas' deadly raid into Israel last year that sparked the war in Gaza. The United States is hoping to revive diplomatic efforts to resolve both conflicts after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week, but so far all sides appear to be digging in. Hezbollah-run lender filled gaps left by Lebanon's troubled banksThe Arabic language spokesman for the Israeli military, Avichay Adraee, said — without providing evidence — that Hezbollah stores hundreds of millions of dollars in the branches of Al-Qard Al-Hasan and that the money is used to purchase arms and pay fighters. The strikes were aimed at preventing the group from rearming, he said. The institution, which has more than 30 branches across Lebanon, tried to reassure customers, saying it had evacuated all branches and relocated gold and other deposits to safe areas. Many customers are civilians unaffiliated with Hezbollah. Al-Qard Al-Hasan, which is sanctioned by the United States and Saudi Arabia, has long served as an alternative to Lebanon's banks, which have imposed restrictions on customers since a severe financial crisis that began in 2019. Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said late Monday that Israel planned more strikes on Al-Qard al-Hasan. Hagari said Iran funds Hezbollah by sending cash and gold to the Iranian embassy in Beirut, though he did not provide any evidence. Hagari also said, without providing evidence, that Israeli intelligence had discovered a bunker belonging to former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that is now being used as a vault under a hospital in southern Beirut. He said it held millions of dollars of gold and cash. A member of Lebanon’s parliament who is the director of the hospital, Fadi Alameh, denied the claim, and said the hospital has underground operation rooms. Alameh said the hospital was being evacuated in anticipation of strikes. Hagari said Israeli strikes in Beirut in early October and in Syria on Monday had also killed people responsible for transferring money between Iran and Hezbollah. Syrian state media said an Israeli airstrike hit a car in the capital of Damascus, killing two people and wounding three. Israeli airstrikes killed 17 people in Lebanon on Monday, including four first responders, according to the country's health ministry. The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired 170 projectiles into Israel on Monday. US envoy says UN resolution that ended past war is ‘no longer enough’U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who has spent much of the past year trying to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, was back in Lebanon on Monday for talks with senior officials. He said U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, was “no longer enough” to ensure peace and a new mechanism was needed to enforce it. The resolution called for Hezbollah to withdraw from the border with Israel and for U.N. peacekeepers and the Lebanese army to control southern Lebanon, without any Hezbollah or Israeli presence. Israel says the resolution was never implemented and that Hezbollah built up extensive military infrastructure right up to the border. Lebanon has long accused Israel of violating its airspace and failing to abide by other provisions of the resolution. US tries to revive Gaza cease-fire talks after Sinwar’s deathThe United States has expressed hope that last week's killing of Hamas leader Sinwar could give new impetus for a cease-fire in Gaza, which would give a major boost to parallel efforts to halt the fighting in Lebanon. The head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, Ronen Bar, visited Egypt for the second time in less than a week and met with Egyptian officials on Sunday, according to an Egyptian official who was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said Egypt, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, remains opposed to any Israeli presence along the Gaza-Egypt border, a key sticking point in talks that sputtered to a halt in August. Hamas has said its demands remain unchanged after the killing of Sinwar. The militant group has said it will only release dozens of Israeli hostages in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a lasting cease-fire and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and recover all the captives, and says Israel must maintain an open-ended security presence in Gaza to keep Hamas from rearming. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 captives are still being held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who don’t distinguish combatants from civilians but say most of the dead were women and children. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.

Foreign Affairs Md Touhid Hossain saidcon Thursday the government would bring back documented Bangladeshis first from Lebanon who want to return voluntarily.  Briefing reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hossain said there are some Bangladeshis who are not willing to return despite knowing the danger as they are thinking of income sources once they return.  He also said there are some Bangladeshis who are not willing to return as they are working in safe areas.  The Adviser said the government is exploring both air and sea routes to ensure the safe return of Bangladeshis in phases, who got stuck in troubled Lebanon. The Adviser said they are seeking cooperation from the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) in this regard. Bangladesh to take steps to bring Hasina back following arrest warrant: Foreign Adviser There are 70,000 to 1 lakh Bangladeshis in Lebanon and around 1800 got enrolled to return to Bangladesh.  Each batch of the returnees may consist of at least 50 Bangladeshis. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment are working together for the return of Bangladeshis trapped in war-torn Lebanon. The government is working closely with all concerned to bring back all the Bangladeshis who wish to return from Lebanon safely, said the foreign ministry. Earlier, an inter-ministerial meeting was held with the participation of Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin, Expatriates’ Welfare Secretary Md Ruhul Amin and Managing Director and CEO of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited Dr Md Shafiqur Rahman. Bangladesh's mission heads assigned to the Middle East joined the meeting on the Zoom platform. Steps taken to ensure the safe return of Bangladeshis from war-hit Lebanon, said the ministry. Italy suspends validity of work permit for Bangladeshis, other nationals The Foreign Secretary has issued necessary instructions to the Bangladeshi Ambassador  in Lebanon to take necessary measures for the safe return of the stranded Bangladeshis. He also gave instructions to ensure the safety of all the expatriate Bangladeshis staying there who do not wish to return to the country. A notification was issued to enroll Bangladeshis who wish to return from the embassy and initially about a thousand migrant workers are said to be willing to return home.