A boy in Gaza was killed by an Israeli airstrike, as his father held him and wouldn’t let go

TOKYO: Palestinian Ambassador to Japan Walid Siam has strongly criticized US President Donald Trump in response to Trump’s sudden announcement of his intention to occupy the Gaza Strip after displacing its Palestinian residents.
“We condemn the policy and statements of Trump, who claims that he wants to bring peace to the world,” Ambassador Siam said in an interview with Arab News Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Siam said that the American president’s wish to possess Greenland, annex Canada, reclaim the Panama Canal, and now occupy Gaza clearly shows that Trump is the last person in the world who wants peace.
The Palestinian Ambassador pointed out that “the world is not a piece of real estate for Trump to play with according to his whims. There are international laws that govern the relationship between countries.”
He warned that Trump’s disrespect for international law will expose America to many problems in the future.
Regarding Trump’s statement calling for the expulsion of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people and their transfer to Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan and other countries, Ambassador Siam referred to the Geneva Convention and UN resolutions that guarantee the Palestinians’ right to their land and their right to be protected under occupation, stressing that neither the occupiers or anyone else has the right to seize them or force them to leave their lands, which are protected by international agreements.
“I think that Trump does not know the Palestinian people, who have suffered for a hundred years under the Zionist Israeli occupation,” Siam said. “And have seen hundreds of thousands of Palestinian martyrs and have been subjected to massacres committed by the Zionist occupation forces in 1947 and 1948 and beyond, and the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians who have become refugees in all the corners of the Earth.”
Ambassador Siam said that Israel’s crimes did not end there as they also occupied the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza and want to expel the Palestinians from those areas that remain for them from the land of Palestine.
“Israel is still committing human massacres against the Palestinians, and despite all this, the Palestinian people are still clinging to their lands and are firmly rooted in the land of their ancestors,” he said. “This is a historical Palestinian land and is not for sale or bargaining. We are in our land. Other people came who do not have a land.”
“We continue to tell the entire world that the Palestinians have the right to their independent state on their land and we will not give that up until the last drop of Palestinian blood. There is no power in the world that can banish us from existence or uproot us from our land, so we are telling the entire world that international law must be respected.”
Ambassador Siam strongly criticized the American policy of hegemony and arrogance, saying, “America is not international law and must respect the rule of law. America and Congress do not represent global leadership or global law.”
“We are the only legitimate residents of Palestine, and the others are illegitimate,” he added, referring to the Jews who came to Palestine from all over the world. “This is what Trump does not know. He does not understand what the land of Palestine is.”

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has urged France to back demands for a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese border areas occupied during the recent conflict.

In a meeting with the French Ambassador to Lebanon, Herve Magro, on Wednesday, Aoun also called for “pressure to be applied to halt daily violations and to work toward the release of Lebanese prisoners within the specified timeframe.”

Israeli forces are still entrenched behind an earthen barrier created a week ago west of the town of Mays Al-Jabal, while Lebanese troops are deployed dozens of meters away.

Several houses in the town of Rab El Thalathine in the Marjeyoun district were destroyed by Israeli troops a day after homes in the town of Yaroun in the Bint Jbeil district were also razed.

Israeli forces are positioned behind earthen barriers and barbed wire, with a warning sign reading “Do not approach,” at the entrances of Yaroun and Maroun Al-Ras.

They are supported by snipers hidden among the trees, while elements of the Lebanese army are deployed just meters away.

Israeli forces are expected to withdraw from the border area on Feb, 18, following a 23-day extension of the withdrawal deadline with the approval of the US.

Wajih Zahwi, 7, from Majdal Selem, on Wednesday died from head injuries sustained in an Israeli military drone strike on Jan. 29 while civilians were returning to their villages. The attack was in violation of the ceasefire agreement.

The border municipality of Ramiyah said that it was “informed by the military intelligence that two army posts will be established within the town. Additionally, efforts will be made to open several secondary roads, and on Friday, engineering teams from the army will conduct surveys and inspections for remnants of the Israeli aggression in the area.”

Meanwhile, a foreign photojournalist working in the Middle East claimed that she was threatened by the Israeli army in southern Lebanon.

Courtney Bonneau posted on Instagram that at around 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday, while she was in a building in the town of Taybeh in southern Lebanon, where the Lebanese army has redeployed, the Israeli army called UNIFIL to inform her and another photographer that if they did not vacate the premises, they would be shot.

As part of military and security agencies’ efforts to combat illegal weapons, the General Directorate of Internal Security Forces said that it had seized a four-wheel-drive vehicle driven by a 43-year-old Lebanese man, whose name was not disclosed.

Weapons and ammunition were found after the vehicle was stopped at the Dahr Al-Baydar checkpoint on the Bekaa-Beirut road. The man admitted bringing the weapons from Syria, and another Lebanese man accompanying him was also arrested.

Military police on Tuesday also intercepted a weapons shipment in Wardaniyeh that was being moved from a Hezbollah warehouse to an undisclosed location.

In a related development, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has designated Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem as his “representative for Hussainiyah affairs and religious administration in Lebanon.”

Qassem is believed to have remained in Iran since assuming his new role.

His appointment was announced by Hezbollah on Oct. 29, following the death of Hassan Nasrallah in Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Nasrallah had served as Khamenei’s representative in Lebanon before his death.