World calls for calm: Fighting continues in Middle East – 12 January 2024
COUNTRIES have called for calm amid fears that the fighting between Israel and Hamas could grow into a bigger war across the Middle East.
Israel has been at war with Hamas for over three months, since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, killing more than 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage. Hamas is a group that controls Gaza, a territory next to Israel where Palestinians live.
Lebanon is a country just to the north of Israel. It’s home to another group called Hezbollah which, like Hamas, is classed as a terrorist group by the UK. Hezbollah has also been fighting with Israel, and it has more weapons and power than Hamas.
On Monday, Hezbollah said one of its commanders, Wissam Tawil, was killed in Lebanon by an Israeli air strike. Israel didn’t comment on that, but did say it had hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
Recently, a senior Hamas leader, Saleh al-Arouri, was also killed in Lebanon. Israel was accused of that, too. In response, Lebanon fired rockets at northern Israel.
This has added to fears that the war might be about to spill over into other countries.
A Lebanon government official, Abdallah Bou Habib, said: “We are very concerned, [the] Lebanese don’t want to be dragged… into a regional war.” He wants Israel to stop its attacks in Lebanon, but Mark Regev, an Israeli government advisor, said: “There can be no peace in the north while Hezbollah’s… army of terror sits on our border.”
Several countries have called for calm, including the US, Japan and the United Nations, a peace organisation that all countries are members of. The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is visiting countries around the Middle East to share his country’s plan to cool the situation down.
He said: “The US has a vision for how to get there, a regional approach that delivers lasting security for Israel and a state for the Palestinian people.”
Gaza girl goes viral
A GIRL aged nine has gone viral for her videos showing what life is like for people living in Gaza.
Lama Abu Jamous has more than 650,000 followers on Instagram. In her videos, she talks to people affected by the fighting between Israel and Hamas, which has killed more than 22,000 in Gaza.
She says: “My message to the world is to end the war. We want the bombing to stop.”
Published Friday 12 January 2024
Picture credit: Getty and lama_jamous9/Instagram
