Israeli army announces it has “eliminated” Hezbollah commander in Lebanon

While Israel announces that it has killed a Hezbollah leader, Iran has executed a member of the Jewish community for a murder case. Le Figaro takes stock of the situation in the Middle East this Monday, November 4.

Israel ‘eliminates’ Hezbollah commander

The Israeli army announced on Monday that it had “eliminated” a local Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, where it is leading a campaign of intense bombings and ground incursions against the Lebanese Islamist movement. The army “struck and eliminated Abou Ali Rida, the commander of the Baraachit region in southern Lebanon”she said in a press release.

Abu Ali Rida “was responsible for planning and carrying out rocket and anti-tank missile attacks against Israeli troops and oversaw Hezbollah terrorist activities in the region”added the army. In recent weeks, the Israeli army has killed several military leaders and senior officials of the pro-Iranian group, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on September 27 in a major strike on its headquarters in Beirut.

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Israel formalizes the cancellation of the agreement for Palestinian refugees

Israel officially informed the UN on Monday of the cancellation of the agreement with the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), voted by the Israeli Parliament, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “On the instructions of Foreign Minister Israel Katz, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has notified the UN of the cancellation of the agreement between the State of Israel and UNRWA”adds the press release. The Israeli Parliament passed a week ago by an overwhelming majority a law banning the activities in Israel of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), causing an international outcry. Israel, long critical of the agency, accused UNRWA employees of having participated in the massacre perpetrated on its soil by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in the Strip. Gaza.

“UNRWA, the organization whose employees participated in the October 7 massacre and many of whose employees are members of Hamas, is part of the problem in the Gaza Strip and not the solution. The UN has received countless evidence of Hamas operatives being employed by UNRWA and the use of their facilities for terrorist purposes, but nothing has been done about it.says the ministry. The agreement with the UN agency dates back to 1967.

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UNRWA provides essential aid and assistance to Palestinian refugees in the Palestinian Territories and several other countries in the region. Its cancellation would be a major blow to humanitarian work in Gaza if implemented, experts say. But Israel Katz rejected this argument, saying that only part of the humanitarian aid was delivered to Gaza by UNRWA.

“The vast majority of humanitarian aid in Gaza is delivered by other organizations, and only 13% of this aid comes from UNRWA”Katz said Monday, according to the release. “The State of Israel is committed to international law and will continue to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip in a manner that does not undermine the security of Israeli citizens”continues the press release. The ban also raised concerns that UNRWA employees in the occupied West Bank could face problems moving from one location to another as well as accessing East Jerusalem or Israel, without coordination with Israeli authorities.

UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees says ban in Israel could cause ‘collapse’ of aid system in Gaza

The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees said its ban in Israel could provoke “the collapse” of the aid system in the Gaza Strip, ravaged by more than a year of war.

After the Israeli parliament passed a law banning the activities of UNRWA on its soil, Jonathan Fowler, a spokesperson for the organization declared: “if this law is implemented, it risks causing the collapse of the international humanitarian operation in the Gaza Strip, an operation of which UNRWA is the backbone”.

Iran executes Jewish Iranian in murder case

Iran executed a member of the country’s Jewish community on Monday following his conviction for murder, Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights reported. Arvin Ghahremani was hanged in a prison in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah after being convicted of a murder committed during a street fight, according to the NGO.

This execution comes against a backdrop of growing tensions between Iran and Israel. “Amid threats of war with Israel, the Islamic Republic executed Arvin Ghahremani, a Jewish Iranian citizen”said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, adding that the legal file included“significant flaws”. “However, Arvin was Jewish and institutionalized anti-Semitism in the Islamic Republic undoubtedly played a crucial role in the execution of his sentence”added Mr. Amiry-Moghaddam.

The Jewish community, once large in Iran, a country dominated by Shiite Muslims, has shrunk since the 1979 Islamic revolution, but it remains the largest in the Middle East, outside of Israel. While Jewish Iranians were executed in the aftermath of the revolution, the execution of a Jewish Iranian is unprecedented in recent years. Ghahremani’s mother, Sonia Saadati, had asked that her life be spared. His family urged the victim’s relatives to accept retribution (qesas) under Iranian Islamic law, which allows this alternative.

The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online website confirmed Ghahremani’s execution, saying the victim’s family had “refused to give consent” to such an agreement. Iran and Israel have exchanged unprecedented air attacks this year, following the outbreak of wars between Israel and armed groups backed by the Islamic Republic in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Lebanese Hezbollah says it launched rockets at Israel

Lebanese Hezbollah announced that it had launched Monday morning “a large salvo of rockets” on the town of Safed, in northern Israel. The pro-Iranian movement has been in open war since the end of September against Israel, which killed its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and is carrying out intensive airstrikes and a ground offensive against Lebanon.