World
Israel’s war on Lebanon triggers unprecedented displacement crisis
Beirut, Lebanon – On Friday evening, a sudden explosion heavily damaged Dina’s* home in the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon’s capital Beirut. It was caused by the shock wave of an Israeli air attack, during which dozens of bombs were dropped at once on a nearby apartment complex in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of the capital that is about two kilometres (1.2 miles) away from the refugee camp.
The huge attack killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and an unknown number of civilians after it levelled several residential buildings, leaving thousands more destitute. The blasts shattered the glass of small shops and cars in the camp, blew doors off their hinges and devastated nearby buildings and homes, explained 35-year-old Dina.
The explosions triggered mayhem as thousands of people and vehicles in the camp rushed towards its narrow exits. Dina grabbed her 12-year-old brother and ran down the stairs from their home, where she saw their elderly mother lying on the ground covered in debris.
Initially fearing that their mother was dead, Dina’s brother broke down. However, it turned out she was still conscious.
“My mother was confused and delirious, but I helped her up and told her that we had to run. I knew more bombs were coming,” Dina told Al Jazeera from a cafe in Hamra, a bustling neighbourhood in central Beirut that has absorbed thousands of displaced people from across Lebanon.
Unprecedented crisis
Israel escalated its conflict with Hezbollah in the second half of September, devastating southern Lebanon and triggering mass displacement.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), one million people have been uprooted from their homes due to Israel’s attacks, 90 percent of them in the last week.
But Lebanon’s caretaker government – operating without a president and reeling from a severe economic crisis – has struggled to respond to people’s needs. Thousands are sleeping on the floors of classrooms after the government converted more than 500 schools into displacement shelters.
Thousands of others are sleeping in mosques, under bridges and in the streets. But the crisis could get even worse now that Israel has begun a ground offensive.
“A ground invasion will compound the problem,” said Karim Emile Bitar, a professor of international relations at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. “We already have more than one million people who left their homes. That is around the same number we had in 1982, when Israel invaded Lebanon and reached Beirut.”
Moments after Israel announced its ground offensive, it ordered civilians to evacuate 29 towns in south Lebanon.
Nora Serhan, who is originally from southern Lebanon, said that her uncle remains in one of the border villages. He refused to leave when Hezbollah and Israel began an initially low-scale conflict on October 8, 2023.
Hezbollah had begun firing projectiles at Israel with the stated aim of reducing pressure on its ally Hamas in Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 41,600 people and uprooted nearly the entire 2.3 million population.
The devastating war on Gaza followed a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, in which 1,139 people were killed and around 250 taken captive.
After Israel and Hezbollah began exchanging fire, Serhan’s uncle chose to stay put. She suspects that he did not want to abandon his house and surroundings, even though the conflict cut off his water and electricity. But since Israel announced its ground offensive, Serhan’s family lost contact with him.
“When [Israel escalated the war last week], I think that maybe it became safer for my uncle to stay in the village than to risk fleeing on the roads,” she told Al Jazeera.
Losing home
Hundreds of thousands of people have abandoned their homes and villages to seek safety in Beirut, as well as in towns further north.
Abdel Latif Hamada, 57, fled his home in southern Lebanon last week after Israel began bombing the region. He said that a bomb killed one of his neighbours, while another was trapped inside his home after rubble and debris piled up outside the entrance.
Hamada risked his own life to clear the rubble and save his neighbour. He said that they were able to flee five minutes before Israel bombed their own homes.
“I didn’t rescue him. God rescued him,” said Hamada, a bald man with a nest of wrinkles around his eyes.
Despite fleeing just in time, Hamada wasn’t safe yet. He hitched an exhausting and terrifying 14-hour ride to Beirut – the journey typically takes four. Thousands of cars were squeezed together trying to reach safety, while roads were obstructed by rubble and stones that were blown off nearby homes and buildings.
“Israeli planes were all over the sky and we saw them drop bombs in front of us. I often had to get out of the vehicle to help clear the debris and stones obstructing our car,” Hamada told Al Jazeera.
As he took another drag from his cigarette, Hamada said that he wasn’t scared when Israel escalated its attacks. Over the course of his life, Israel has displaced him three times from his village, including during its invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and its devastating assault on the country in 2006.
In the latter war, an Israeli bomb fell on his home and killed his wife Khadeja.
“I’m not scared for my own life anymore. I’m just scared of what awaits the generation ahead of me,” Hamada said.
Permanent displacement?
Civilians and analysts fear that the ongoing displacement crisis could end up being protracted – even permanent.
According to Michael Young, an expert on Lebanon with the Carnegie Middle East Centre, Israel’s objective over the last two weeks has been to create a major humanitarian crisis for the Lebanese state and particularly for Hezbollah, which represents many Shia Muslims in the country.
“What’s worrisome is what will Israel do when it does invade? Will they begin dynamiting homes as they did in Gaza? In other words, do they make the temporary humanitarian crisis a permanent one by ensuring that nobody can return [to their homes]?” Young asked.
“This is a big question mark,” he said. “Once the villages are emptied, what will the Israelis do to them?”
Hamada and Dina both vow to return to their homes again, when they can.
Dina said her father and sister have already gone back to Burj al-Barajneh – now a ghost town – due to the terrible conditions in the displacement shelters, where there are few basic provisions and no running water.
She added that there is a growing feeling among everyone in the country that Israel will turn large swathes of Lebanon into a disaster zone, just as they did in Gaza.
“They are going to do the same thing here that they did in Gaza,” Dina said.
“This is a war on civilians.”
*Dina’s name has been changed to protect her anonymity.
World
Hyun Bin, Jung Woo-sung Crime Thriller ‘Made in Korea’ Sets Disney+ Debut
Hyun Bin and Jung Woo-sung go head-to-head in “Made in Korea,” a 1970s crime noir that launches Dec. 24 on Disney+ with a two-episode premiere.
The series stars Hyun Bin (“Crash Landing on You,” “Confidential Assignment”) as Baek Kitae, an ambitious KCIA agent in 1970s South Korea who leads a dangerous double life. By day, he works as a government operative, while by night he runs an illegal operation, using his underworld connections to consolidate power, protect his brother and generate substantial revenue for the agency.
Jung Woo-sung (“Tell Me That You Love Me,” “12.12: The Day”) co-stars as Jang Geonyoung, an incorruptible prosecutor determined to bring Kitae down. Woo Dohwan (“Bloodhounds,” “Mr. Plankton”) plays Kitae’s brother Baek Kihyun.
The series is written by Park Eunkyo (“Mother,” “A Normal Family,” “The Silent Sea”) and Park Joonseok (“A Normal Family”), directed by Woo Minho (“The Man Standing Next,” “Inside Men,” “Harbin”), and produced by Hive Media Corp (“Inside Men,” “The Man Standing Next,” “12.12: The Day”).
Following the two-episode premiere, “Made in Korea” will release two additional episodes on Dec. 31, with the final two episodes rolling out weekly through Jan. 14. The series has already been renewed for a second season, which is currently in production.
The thriller joins Disney+’s expanding slate of Korean drama content that launched in 2025, including “Unmasked,” “Nine Puzzles,” “Hyper Knife,” “Low Life,” “The Murky Stream” and “Tempest.”
The streamer has additional Korean series slated for 2026, including “Gold Land” starring Park Boyoung, “Perfect Crown” starring IU and Byeon Wooseok, and the return of “A Shop for Killers” for a second season with Lee Dongwook and Kim Hyejun.
World
Pope Leo XIV says he’s ‘very disappointed’ after Illinois approves assisted suicide law
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker meets with Pope Leo XIV
Illinois Democratic Gov. Jay Robert “JB” Pritzker met with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, a fellow native of the Land of Lincoln, at the Vatican this week. (Credit: REUTERS — No use Fox Weather/Outkick)
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Pope Leo XIV said Tuesday he was “very disappointed” after his home state of Illinois approved a law allowing medically assisted suicide.
Leo, who grew up in Chicago, said he had spoken “explicitly” with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker while the legislation was on his desk and urged him not to sign the bill into law, saying the measure undermines respect for human life from “the very beginning to the very end.”
“Unfortunately, for different reasons, he decided to sign that bill,” Leo told reporters outside Rome. “I am very disappointed about that.”
The Medical Aid in Dying Act, also referred to as “Deb’s Law,” was signed into law by Pritzker on Dec. 12 and allows eligible terminally ill adult patients to obtain life-ending medication after consultation with their doctors.
NY GOV. HOCHUL TO SIGN BILL TO LEGALIZE PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE: ‘WHO AM I TO DENY YOU?’
Pope Leo XIV met with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker during an audience at the Apostolic Palace on Nov. 19 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Simone Risoluti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
The measure was named after Deb Robertson, a lifelong Illinois resident with a rare terminal illness who had pushed for the bill’s approval.
The law takes effect in September 2026, giving participating healthcare providers and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) time to implement required processes and protections.
Leo said Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich also urged Pritzker not to sign the bill, but his efforts were unsuccessful.
BISHOPS, CATHOLIC GROUPS SLAM CARDINAL CUPICH’S PLAN TO HONOR PRO-ABORTION SEN DICK DURBIN: ‘GREAT SCANDAL’
Pope Leo XIV said he was very disappointed” that Illinois passed a law allowing medically assisted suicide. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
“I would invite all people, especially in these Christmas days, to reflect upon the nature of human life, the goodness of human life,” Leo said. “God became human like us to show us what it means really to live human life, and I hope and pray that the respect for life will once again grow in all moments of human existence, from conception to natural death.”
The state’s six Catholic dioceses have also criticized Pritzker’s decision to sign the bill, saying it puts Illinois “on a dangerous and heartbreaking path.”
Illinois joins a growing list of states allowing medically assisted suicide. Eleven other states and the District of Columbia allow medically assisted suicide, according to the advocacy group, Death with Dignity, and seven other states are considering allowing it.
After signing the bill, Pritzker said the legislation would allow patients with terminal illnesses to “avoid unnecessary pain and suffering at the end of their lives,” and said it would be “thoughtfully implemented” to guide physicians and patients through deeply personal decisions.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Medical Aid in Dying Act on Dec. 12, allowing eligible terminally ill adult patients to obtain life-ending medication after consultation with their doctors. (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital has reached out to Pritzker’s office for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Europeans show solidarity with Denmark after Trump’s Greenland threat
Published on
Exactly one year after Donald Trump first announced his intention to integrate Greenland into US territory on grounds of “national protection”, he’s back for more.
The US president has appointed Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, as the new US special envoy for Greenland with the stated objective of “integrating Greenland into the United States” and repeated the US needs the territory for its national security.
His comments have been taken seriously by EU heads of state and government, who are presenting a united front against what they describe as American expansionist ambitions towards the autonomous territory, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, both responded to the announcement by reaffirming their support for the integrity of Denmark’s territory.
“Greenland belongs to its people. Denmark stands as its guarantor. I join my voice to that of Europeans in expressing our full solidarity.”
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters the United States “needs Greenland for national security, not for minerals or oil, but national security. And if you take a look at Greenland, there are Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. So, we need this for protection.”
He also chastised Denmark for what he described neglecting the territory, “they have spent no money, they have no military protection, they say Denmark arrived there 300 years ago with boats – we were there with boats too, I’m sure. We’ll have to work it all out.”
Adding to the European voices pushing back on the US ambitions and the criticism of Denmark, Commission Ursula von der Leyen insisted that “territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law”. Despite the tone coming out of Washington, she appeared to refer to the US as an ally in arctic security.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez echoed those remarks. “Respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity is central to the EU and to all nations of the world,” he wrote on X. “Security in the Arctic is a priority in which we seek to work with allies and partners.”
The US and Denmark are part of NATO, which is supposed to ensure mutual defence in the event of aggression against one of its members. That principle has never been tested by conflict between members of the alliance if one were to seize territory from another.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has so far remained silent on the issue. During a press conference with Trump in the White House’s Oval Office in March, he also chose not to comment after a question from a journalist.
“When it comes to Greenland, if it joins the US or not, I will leave that outside of me in this discussion because I don’t want to drag NATO into that,” he said.
-
Iowa1 week agoAddy Brown motivated to step up in Audi Crooks’ absence vs. UNI
-
Maine1 week agoElementary-aged student killed in school bus crash in southern Maine
-
Maryland1 week agoFrigid temperatures to start the week in Maryland
-
New Mexico1 week agoFamily clarifies why they believe missing New Mexico man is dead
-
South Dakota1 week agoNature: Snow in South Dakota
-
Detroit, MI1 week ago‘Love being a pedo’: Metro Detroit doctor, attorney, therapist accused in web of child porn chats
-
Health1 week ago‘Aggressive’ new flu variant sweeps globe as doctors warn of severe symptoms
-
Maine1 week agoFamily in Maine host food pantry for deer | Hand Off