The ceasefire provides enormous relief for the people of Lebanon, who have endured death, injury, loss, suffering and displacement on a massive scale from Israel’s indiscriminate bombing targeting villages and civilian neighborhoods.

At the same time, the agreement raises many questions about the course of the confrontation between Israel and the resistance across the region, sparking concerns that Gaza faces a more difficult struggle without the active support front in the north.

We opened this week’s Electronic Intifada Livestream with a discussion about what we know about the agreement and what it could mean especially for Palestinians in Gaza.

That segment was streamed live on Wednesday, while other segments had been pre-recorded before news of the ceasefire broke.

You can watch the whole program in the video at the top of this article, including the news brief from Nora Barrows-Friedman, our interview with Palestinian writer Abdaljawad Omar, Jon Elmer’s resistance report and, with Asa Winstanley, our discussion about the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.

Announcing the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire agreement Tuesday evening, Biden effectively presented it as an Israeli-American victory over Hizballah, which he called a “terrorist” organization and which he blamed for starting the conflict.

Displaced Lebanese civilians who immediately began streaming back to their homes in the south, celebrated the victory of their resistance which effectively stopped Israel’s ground invasion into Lebanon over the last two months and inflicted heavy losses on Israel’s military over the last 14 months.

By showtime, Hizballah had yet to make any official statement about the agreement. Under the terms announced by Biden, Israel will withdraw its forces from Lebanese territory over 60 days, and the US and France will monitor implementation of the agreement.

Perhaps the only strategic achievement Israel and Washington can claim, according to this writer, is that at least for now Israel succeeded in breaking the linkage between the Gaza and Lebanon fronts.

In his final speech, just days before his assassination by Israel in September, Hizballah leader Sayed Hasan Nasrallah declared “that the Lebanon front will not stop before the aggression on Gaza stops. The resistance in Lebanon won’t stop supporting and assisting Gaza, the West Bank, and the oppressed people in those holy lands.”

Nasrallah added that the support front would continue, “no matter what the consequences are, what the sacrifices are, what scenarios will unfold.”

There can be no doubt that Hizballah and the people of Lebanon made enormous sacrifices to keep that promise, and Palestinians, especially those in Gaza, are expressing their deep gratitude.

And undoubtedly many will argue that preserving Hizballah’s weapons and allowing the group to rebuild – despite Biden’s vow that it won’t be allowed to – is necessary to ensure its long-term survival as a deterrent and resistance force.

But many will want to hear Hizballah’s analysis and reasoning behind the choice to accept the deal, even as Israel’s army edges closer to exhaustion and collapse.

Biden said his administration “will make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.” But as we discussed, the terms he set out do not suggest that it is either a high priority or likely.

Undermining the ICC

The morning after the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire was announced, the French foreign ministry issued a statement appearing to assure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Paris would not arrest him if he entered its territory.

France now claims that Netanyahu enjoys immunity because Israel is not a member of the International Criminal Court.

As we discussed, this is a totally novel and baseless claim and completely contradicts the position Paris took in September, when it urged Mongolia to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is also the subject of an ICC arrest warrant.

Russia, like Israel, is not a member of the court. France’s about-face appears to have come after Israeli and American pressure and as a quid pro quo for allowing France to assume a monitoring role in the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire deal.

Israel’s “shock without awe”

Our feature interview on this week’s Livestream was with Birzeit University lecturer Abdaljawad Omar.

His recent article for Radical Philosophy is titled “Shock without awe: Zionism and its horror.

In it, he writes that Israel “takes a festive and unapologetic pleasure in its power to punish, kill, maim and destroy.”

He shared his reflections on a range of recent developments, including the elections in the United States and the International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.

Winter adds to horror, misery in Gaza

The past few days have brought heavy rains amid further forced displacement across Gaza as Israel’s campaigns of systematic slaughter, destruction and starvation in north Gaza entered its eighth week.

Nora-Barrows Friedman covered these and other developments in her news brief.

Airstrikes and massacres continued across all areas of the Gaza Strip.

Journalist Hossam Shabat, one of the only remaining reporters in north Gaza who was injured last week in an airstrike, returned to work. He stated on Sunday that “Amidst the rain and the bullets, the suffering of the displaced is evident in their dilapidated tents in Gaza City, where pain is drowned in the details of daily life.”

Israeli forces continued their attacks on the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, hitting the entrance of the emergency unit as well as in the hospital courtyard, wounding medical staff.

On Friday night, the hospital’s director Hussam Abu Safiya said an armed Israeli drone attacked the entrance again, wounding three staffers.

A baby in the neonatal intensive care unit died from a lack of oxygen after Israeli forces bombed and destroyed the oxygen station at the hospital, according to Dr. Abu Safiya.

On Saturday, 23 November, Abu Safiya was severely injured in an Israeli attack.

Speaking to the media from his hospital bed, Abu Safiya said: “We will continue to provide care no matter the cost. Until now we are pleading to the world, and we’ll carry on with the hope that there is collective consciousness.”

On Sunday, Dr. Abu Safiya stated that his condition had worsened. He added that he needed an urgent consultation with a vascular surgeon due to the intensity of bleeding at the site of the injury, saying that there are at least six pieces of shrapnel that penetrated his thigh – causing possible tears in the blood vessels and veins.

Speaking via the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, Abu Safiya said on Sunday that “It is evident that a new weapon has been introduced by the Israeli army, specifically a quadcopter that drops bombs containing tiny fragments that are nearly invisible to the naked eye. These projectiles penetrate the bodies of our workers, causing severe bleeding and damage to internal organs.”

Medical staff held a protest with Abu Safiya in his hospital room to protest Israel’s nonstop attacks on the hospital and everyone inside and around it.

Bombings in central Gaza

In central Gaza, the United Nations reported that at least 40 families lost their shelters and belongings after a school in Nuseirat refugee camp was bombed on Friday.

At least seven people were killed and more than 20 injured in the attack.

The Israeli army bombed the al-Farouq mosque in Nuseirat on Saturday. More than 800 mosques have been destroyed by the Israeli army in Gaza since October 2023.

Al Jazeera reporter Hani Mahmoud stated that the girls were killed inside a home and were “part of a displaced family in the central area after their home was already bombed in northern Gaza and they were pulled from under the rubble. Their father, who survived these attacks, is in hospital getting treated but in difficult condition.”

Mahmoud added that “another attack on a tent in Maghazi refugee camp affected a family that has already endured the trauma of losing their house that was destroyed in an air attack, leaving them all homeless. The tent was attacked by at least one drone missile.”

And in southern Gaza, three Palestinian children and four adults were killed in an Israeli bombing in Khan Younis on Saturday.

Journalists killed

At least three journalists were killed in Gaza this week.

The Gaza government media office stated on Saturday that Wael Ibrahim Abu Qafa was killed. He was a lecturer in the Journalism and Media department at the Islamic University of Gaza, and was a reporter with the Holy Quran Radio, the university’s radio station.

Two other journalists, Mahmoud Al-Khatib and Abdul-Rahim Al-Tahrawi, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on November 20th.

Bombings in Lebanon before ceasefire

Turning northwards toward Lebanon, Israel attacked parts of Beirut, bombing entire residential buildings to the ground in the days and hours leading up to Wednesday morning’s ceasefire.

On Friday, Israeli airstrikes destroyed an apartment building in southern Beirut. Al Jazeera compiled this video from multiple angles:

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that at least 29 people were killed and nearly 70 injured when Israel bombed a building at 4:00am on Saturday morning in Beirut’s Basta al-Fawqa neighborhood.

The predawn attack was carried out without any warning from the Israeli military.

The National News Agency said that Israeli war planes “completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles.”

The Associated Press noted that the Beirut attacks came after a day of heavy bombardment of the city’s southern suburbs and the southern coastal city of Tyre (Sour).

Lebanese political analyst Amal Saad, who has been a guest on this program, posted a video of the aftermath of the bombing of her relative’s home:

Reporter Simona Foltyn described the scene and relentless attacks on medical points.

Elmer covered the resistance in northern Gaza, the ongoing invasions in the northern West Bank as well as Hizballah’s sharp increase in attacks against military bases deep inside Israel in the days leading up to the ceasefire.

Resilience and defiance

Finally, as we always do, we wanted to share images of people expressing defiance and resilience in the face of Israel’s widening campaign of destruction.

This week, a video taken by a mother in north Gaza shows her children’s surprise when she offers them the first fruits they’ve been able to find and eat in a year.

The joy on their faces is immeasurable.

Tamara Nassar produced and directed the program. Maureen Clare Murphy contributed writing and production. Michael F. Brown contributed pre-production assistance and Eli Gerzon contributed post-production assistance.

You can watch the whole program on YouTube, Rumble or Twitter/X, or you can listen to it on your preferred podcast platform.

Past episodes of The Electronic Intifada livestream can be viewed on our YouTube channel.

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