Arab League seeks action against Israel

The Arab League has called for the suspension of Israel's participation in the United Nations General Assembly, demanding more punitive measures as Israeli killings and bombardment continue unabated in Gaza and Lebanon.

In its strongest statement yet, the league members also criticized the United States for its continuous military support to Israel. They also pressed for the enforcement of sanctions against Israel, citing previous summits and ministerial decisions, alongside the genocide lawsuit filed against Israel at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

The statement followed an emergency session in Cairo on Tuesday, coinciding with the visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region.

Before departing for Saudi Arabia from Israel, Blinken had urged Israel to seize the opportunity to reach a longer-term solution to the conflict and avoid greater escalation after Iran's retaliatory missile strike on Oct 1, following the assassinations of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders.

Belal Alakhras, a political analyst and researcher at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, told China Daily: "Regional governments find themselves under mounting pressure as Israeli officials signal potential wider aggression across the region, with Iran mentioned as a possible next target. These developments threaten multiple domains, from economic stability to energy security."

As the Israeli siege of northern Gaza enters its third week, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Palestine refugee agency, appealed on X for an immediate truce, describing how "three weeks of nonstop bombardments" by Israeli forces have affected the region.

"The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads or under the rubble. Missions to clear the bodies or provide humanitarian assistance are denied. In northern Gaza, people are just waiting to die. They feel deserted, hopeless and alone. They live from one hour to the next, fearing death at every second," he said.

"On behalf of our staff in northern Gaza, I am calling for an immediate truce, even if for a few hours, to enable safe humanitarian passage for families who wish to leave the area and reach safer places. This is the bare minimum to save the lives of civilians who have nothing to do with this conflict."

Jerusalem-based human rights group B'Tselem called on the world to "stop the ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza".

"Without immediate, decisive action from the international community, without using every tool available — political, legal, economic — the mass killings in the northern Gaza Strip will continue and the suffering of its besieged civilians will grow. All international bodies and institutions must act now to compel Israel to stop the war and end the carnage," it said in a statement.

Alakhras said the intensifying military operation in northern Gaza, coupled with major aggression in Lebanon, has led regional observers to question the US commitment to de-escalation, particularly given the continued flow of military support to Israel.

A report released on Tuesday by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, titled "Gaza War: Expected Socioeconomic Impacts on the State of Palestine", warned that the "impact of the yearlong war in Gaza and escalations in the West Bank" has set the development in the State of Palestine back by about 69 years.

More than 2.6 million people are newly impoverished, it added.

"Our assessments serve to sound the alarm over the millions of lives that are being shattered and the decades of development efforts that are being wiped out," said the commission's Executive Secretary Rola Dashti. "It is high time to end the suffering and bloodshed that have engulfed our region."

In Lebanon, Israel began to bomb the UNESCO-listed port of Tyre roughly three hours after issuing an order online for residents to flee central areas. Huge clouds of thick smoke billowed above residential buildings.

Tens of thousands of people had already fled Tyre in recent weeks as Israel steps up its campaign to destroy Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Israel's military said on Wednesday it had killed three Hezbollah commanders and some 70 fighters in southern Lebanon in the past 48 hours, a day after confirming it had killed Hashem Safieddine, the militant group's heir apparent leader.