NICE, France (AP) — After four months of deadly unrest in New Caledonia, tensions in the French Pacific territory between the pro-independence Indigenous Kanak people and the white settler communities loyal to Paris are simmering as the vast archipelago east of Australia marks the anniversary of colonization on Tuesday.
The communities stand far apart on the territory’s future following the Kanaks' revolt in May against President Emmanuel Macron’ s voting reform in New Caledonia. The loyalists have called on supporters in the capital, Noumea, to mark the 171st anniversary of the French takeover by honking horns during a radio broadcast of France’s national anthem, La Marseillaise.
Separately, the National Council of Chiefs of the Kanak people is meeting on the neighbouring Mare Island and is expected to unilaterally declare sovereignty over the Kanak nation on their customary territories. Macron sidelined the controversial voting reform — along with the situation in New Caledonia — in June after he dissolved the Parliament and called for early legislative elections.
As mainland France was embroiled in an unprecedent political crisis following July's inconclusive vote and the Paris Olympics euphoria, it was France’s police and military troops that were largely dealing with the unrest and discontent in New Caledonia. They conducted raids and arrests of people authorities suspected of involvement in violence that included clashes, looting and arson. Thirteen people were killed and widespread damage was done to businesses, homes and public property amounting to 2.2 million euros.
Since the start of Macron's presidency in 2017, the French Pacific territory has been central to his Indo-Pacific strategy as he aimed to boost France’s influence in the region where China and the U.S. are jostling for power. New Caledonia is a major global producer of nickel, a critical raw material that is needed to make electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, steel and other everyday items.
New Caledonia became French in 1853 under Emperor Napoleon III, Napoleon’s nephew and heir. It became an overseas territory after World War II, with French citizenship granted to all Kanaks in 1957. The Pacific archipelago of about 300,000 people is 10 time zones ahead of Paris and known to tourists for its UNESCO World Heritage atolls and reefs.
Tensions have simmered for decades between the Indigenous Kanaks, who have long sought to break free from France after suffering from strict segregation policies and widespread discrimination, and colonizers’ descendants and other white settlers who want it to remain part of France. People of European descent in New Caledonia distinguish between descendants of colonizers and descendants of the many prisoners sent to the territory by force. During the 1980s, tensions between the communities morphed into violence that had brought the archipelago to the brink of a civil war.
A peace deal between rival factions was reached in 1988. A decade later, France vowed to give more political power and broad autonomy to New Caledonia and the Kanak people and hold up to three successive referendums, which could pave the way to self-determination as part of the agreement known as the Noumea Accord.
The three referendums were organized between 2018 to 2021 and a majority of voters chose to remain part of France instead of backing independence. The pro-independence Kanak people rejected the last referendum’s results in 2021, which they boycotted because it was held at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic that severely affected the Kanak community.
Tensions were rising and deepened early this year when Macron rushed through Parliament a bill aimed at amending France’s constitution and change voting lists in New Caledonia. It granted voting rights in local elections to residents who have settled there in the last decade leaving the Indigenous people in fear of further erosion of their rights and erasure of their identity.
The adoption of the controversial bill by both houses of the French Parliament in May led to mass demonstrations that turned violent, prompting Macron to declare a state of emergency and fly thousands of police and army reinforcements to the far away territory. Thirteen people, mostly Kanaks, and two police officers, have been killed and nearly 3,000 people have been arrested since New Caledonia's police launched an investigation just days after the protests in May turned violent.
Among those detained in broad police raids were 11 Kanak activists with the pro-independence group known as The Field Action Coordination Unit that has organized protests against French rule since April. Seven of the detained activists, including Christian Tein, a Kanak leader, were flown 17,000 kilometers (10,500 miles) away from home to seven prisons in mainland France for pretrial detention.
The activists' transfer in June triggered renewed rioting across the archipelago. It widened the gap between the communities and quashed the remaining bit of trust in political actors' willingness to overcome enormous differences over New Caledonia's future and its economic disparities with “concrete and serious negotiations” that Macron had demanded during his whirlwind trip to Noumea in May.
Tein’s group accused French authorities of “colonial practices” and demanded the activists’ immediate release and return to their homeland. They vowed that “the Kanak people will never give up on their desire for independence with peaceful means.” France's then-interior minister Gerald Darmanin said The Field Action Coordination Unit was “a mafia-style organization” that comprised “delinquents and criminals” who operate under the disguise of a pro-independence movement. His comments caused fury among Kanak leaders with Grand Chief Hippolyte Sinewami-Htamumu expressing full support for the pro-independence group.
After weeks of wrestling with political blocs in the fractured Parliament, Macron's new Prime Minister Michel Barnier formed a new government on Saturday. France's ballooning debt and a new budget will top Barnier's agenda. But many have called on the veteran politician and former EU Brexit negotiator to change France's approach to New Caledonia and tackle its security and economic crisis with policies that would deliver on the Noumea Accord promise: a “common destiny” and, eventually, “complete emancipation.”
Barnier is expected to outline his approach in his inaugural policy speech in the National Assembly, France's influential lower house of Parliament, on Oct. 1. His first decision on New Caledonia is likely to be whether to hold or postpone provincial elections scheduled for Dec. 15.
FILE - A man stands in front a burnt car after unrest in Noumea, New Caledonia, Wednesday May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Nicolas Job, File)
FILE - Smoke rises during protests in Noumea, New Caledonia, Wednesday May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Nicolas Job, File)
Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, killing more than 356 people, including 24 children and 42 women, as the Israeli military called on residents to immediately evacuate places where it claimed the Hezbollah militant group stores weapons.
Thousands of people fled southern Lebanon, jamming the main highway to Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. More than 1,240 people were wounded in the strikes, the Health Ministry said, a staggering one-day toll for the country.
The Israeli military said it hit more than 800 targets Monday linked to Hezbollah weapons sites. It said it was expanding the operation to include areas of the Bekaa Valley, along Lebanon’s eastern border.
Residents of different villages in southern Lebanon posted photos on social media that they said showed their towns that were being struck.
The wave of airstrikes came after a day after Hezbollah fired over 100 rockets into northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa.
Hezbollah’s rockets were in response to an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday that killed a top Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen members, along with civilians including women and children.
Last week, thousands of communications devices, used mainly by Hezbollah members, exploded in different parts of Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000. Lebanon blamed the attacks on Israel, but Israel did not confirm or deny its responsibility.
Here’s the latest:
MARJAYOUN, Lebanon — Lebanon’s health ministry says the death toll from Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Monday has increased to 356, including 24 children and 42 women.
The barrage is the deadliest since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war as the Israeli military warned residents in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of a widening air campaign against Hezbollah.
Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in the biggest exodus since 2006. More than 1,240 people were wounded in the strikes, the health ministry said — a staggering one-day toll for a country still reeling from a deadly attack on communication devices last week.
The death toll surpassed that of Beirut’s devastating port explosion in 2020, when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse detonated, killing at least 218 people and wounding more than 6,000.
TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israel’s military spokesman says Israeli warplanes struck 1,300 Hezbollah targets on Monday.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the strikes destroyed Hezbollah cruise missiles, rockets laden with heavy explosives, long and short-range rockets and attack drones. He said many were hidden in residential areas, showing photos of what he said were weapons hidden in private homes.
“Hezbollah has turned southern Lebanon into a war zone,” he told a news conference.
CAIRO — Egypt on Monday condemned Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, warning that its military escalation will only aggravate the crisis.
In a statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry urged international powers and the U.N. Security Council to intervene to stop Israel’s escalation in the region.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden says he planned to discuss “efforts to end the war in Gaza” during a Monday Oval Office meeting with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Biden told his UAE counterpart that he’s been briefed on the latest developments regarding Israel and Lebanon and that his team is “working to de-escalate” in a way that allows people to return to their homes safely.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s defense minister says the Israeli offensive in Lebanon has destroyed tens of thousands of rockets in Hezbollah’s formidable arsenal.
Yoav Gallant said during an assessment with military commanders Monday that the results of the Israeli air campaign are “extremely impressive.”
“Today is a significant peak,” Gallant said. “On this day we have taken out of order tens of thousands of rockets and precise munition. What Hezbollah has built over a period of 20 years … is in fact being destroyed.”
Israel estimates that Hezbollah has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including guided missiles and long-range projectiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s foreign minister has urged the U.N. Security Council to implement a 2006 resolution calling on Hezbollah to move its forces far from the Israeli border.
Resolution 1701 ended a monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah. The resolution required Hezbollah to move some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, but it has refused, accusing Israel of failing to carry out provisions.
In a letter to the council, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the council “must act to bring about a full implementation” of the resolution. He warned that Israel would not tolerate the “ongoing war of attrition” with Hezbollah.
“Israel is not interested in a full-scale war,” he wrote. “However, we will take all necessary measures to protect ourselves and our citizens in accordance with international law as part of the ongoing armed conflict against Hezbollah.”
He also called for international sanctions against Iran, saying the Tehran government is the “mastermind” behind Hezbollah’s attacks.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s military chief says Israel is preparing its “next phases” of operations against Hezbollah.
Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told soldiers Monday that Israel’s airstrikes were “proactive” and targeting Hezbollah infrastructure built over the past 20 years.
“We are striking targets and preparing for the next phases,” he said, promising to release details in the near future.
He says the goal of the offensive is to allow tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return to their homes in northern Israel.
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency is reporting an Israeli strike on a southern Beirut suburb with three missiles.
Al-Manar TV of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said six people were wounded in the strike on the Beir al-Abed neighborhood adding that they were rushed to hospital.
A Hezbollah official confirmed the airstrike without giving further details.
The area was cordoned and journalists were not allowed to get close to the building that was hit.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister urged Lebanese civilians to heed Israeli calls to evacuate their homes, saying “take this warning seriously.”
Benjamin Netanyahu issued the warning Monday in a videotaped message his office said was aimed at Lebanese civilians. He spoke as Israeli warplanes continued to strike alleged Hezbollah targets in southern and eastern Lebanon.
Earlier Monday, Israel ordered residents in the targeted areas to leave ahead of the airstrikes. Israeli officials say Hezbollah uses civilian areas to hide weapons.
“Please get out of harm’s way now,” Netanyahu said. “Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”
BEIRUT — Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad says 274 people have been killed in ongoing Israeli strikes Monday, and more than 1,000 injured.
At a press conference in Beirut, Abiad said thousands of families have been displaced by the attacks. He also said Israeli strikes have hit hospitals, medical centers and ambulances.
The Israeli military announced that it hit some 800 targets Monday, claiming it was going after Hezbollah weapons.
JERUSALEM — Hezbollah launched more than 100 projectiles toward Israel on Monday, the military said, reaching deep into Israel including around the northern city of Haifa and parts of the occupied West Bank.
Most of the missiles were intercepted but two people were lightly injured from falling shrapnel in northern Israel. A number of homes suffered direct hits.
School was canceled in northern Israel on Sunday and Monday and Israelis were instructed to stay close to protected areas.
The Israeli military said they had struck more than 800 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and were enlarging the operation to include eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley as well.
According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, more than 180 people were killed and 700 injured, the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
BEIRUT — The U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon expressed “grave concern" for the safety of civilians in the south following the most intense Israeli bombing campaign since hostilities erupted in October.
“Any further escalation of this dangerous situation could have far-reaching and devastating consequences, not only for those living on both sides of the Blue Line (the border between Lebanon and Israel) but also for the broader region,” it said in a statement.
It added that “attacks on civilians are not only violations of international law but may amount to war crimes.”
Lebanese health officials said more than 180 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes Monday. It was not immediately clear how many of them were civilians.
The U.N. force, known as UNIFIL, said its commander Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro had contacted Lebanese and Israeli officials to urge de-escalation.
BEIRUT — The death toll in Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon has risen to 182 with 727 others wounded, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
The Lebanese Red Cross told The Associated Press that all ambulance stations across the country have been mobilized, supporting paramedics in southern Lebanon.
Hospitals in the south are struggling with capacity and other units from the Red Cross are helping relocate wounded people to hospitals farther north, officials said.
GAZA CITY — Israeli strikes in Gaza left 24 dead and 60 wounded in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry in the Palestinian territory said Monday.
The fresh fatalities brought the overall death toll in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7 to 41,455, and 95,878 wounded, said the ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Israel launched its campaign vowing to destroy Hamas after the militants launched an attack on southern Israel in which they killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it is widening an aerial offensive against what it says are Hezbollah weapons sites in southern and eastern Lebanon.
The military said Monday that it was expanding its airstrikes to include areas of the Bekaa Valley, along Lebanon’s eastern border, after targeting more than 300 sites in southern Lebanon.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said residents of the Bekaa Valley must immediately evacuate areas where Hezbollah is storing weapons.
BEIRUT — Thousands of people are leaving south Lebanon and heading north after Israel intensified airstrikes on Monday, leaving 100 people dead and hundreds wounded.
In the southern port city of Sidon, the main north-south highway was packed with cars heading north in the direction of the capital Beirut.
Following a Cabinet meeting in Beirut Monday, Minister of Environment Nasser Yassin told reporters that some schools are being prepared in Mount Lebanon to receive those fleeing.
It was the biggest wave of displacement since the summer 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, when hundreds of thousands fled their homes in the south.
BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities say 100 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in what would be the deadliest day in Lebanon in nearly a year of fighting against the Hezbollah militant group.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said more than 400 others were wounded in the strikes in southern Lebanon on Monday.
It said among them were women, children, and paramedics.
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Health Ministry says a wave of Israeli airstrikes on Monday has killed at least 50 and wounded more than 300 people.
The ministry said that the toll was preliminary as airstrikes intensified around noon and women and children were among the dead.
The airstrikes hit wide areas in southern and northeastern Lebanon. Israel’s military said it struck 300 targets across Lebanon linked to the militant group Hezbollah.
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister on Monday called Israel’s wave of airstrikes “a genocide in every sense of the word.”
Najib Mikati made the comments at the start of a Cabinet meeting in Beirut in which he said that Israel’s airstrikes aim to destroy Lebanon’s towns and villages.
Mikati said that the Lebanese government is calling on the United Nations, the U.N. Security Council and world nations to “deter the aggression.”
BEIRUT — Lebanon's state-run National News Agency says Israeli airstrikes on different parts of Lebanon on Monday killed at least one person and wounded others.
The airstrikes hit the heights of the central province of Byblos for the first time since exchanges along the Lebanon-Israel border began in early October, NNA said. A security official confirmed the airstrike in the village of Almat.
Also targeted by the early morning airstrikes were the northeastern Baalbek and Hermel regions where a shepherd was killed and two members of his family were wounded in the fields of the village of Bodai, NNA said. It added that four other people were also wounded in Bodai and were all taken to hospitals in the area.
NNA also said that 11 people were wounded in the southern village of Aitaroun, including 1 in serious condition.
BEIJING — China is urging its citizens in Lebanon and Israel to evacuate or move to safe areas as the conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah is escalating.
Chinese citizens in Lebanon should take commercial flights to return to China or otherwise leave Lebanon as soon as possible for their own safety, the Consular Department of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement posted on social media platform WeChat on Monday.
“Those who need to continue to stay in Lebanon should remain highly vigilant, effectively strengthen their security precautions and emergency preparedness and avoid going to high-risk areas and sensitive areas in the south,” the statement read.
On Sunday, the Chinese Embassy in Israel cautioned its citizens in the country to be prepared for any potential attacks including by missiles, rockets and drones. It added that Chinese people were advised against traveling to Israel and entering high-risk areas in the country’s north.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has called on people in southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate homes and other buildings where Hezbollah stores weapons and says it is carrying out “extensive strikes” against the militant group.
Monday's announcement was the first warning of its kind in nearly a year of low-level conflict along the border.
Lebanese media reported that residents received text messages urging them to move away from any building where Hezbollah stores arms until further notice.
“If you are in a building housing weapons for Hezbollah, move away from the village until further notice,” the Arabic message reads, according to Lebanese media.
It was not immediately clear how many people would be affected by the Israeli orders. Communities on both sides of the border have largely emptied out because of the near-daily exchanges of fire.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of transforming entire communities in the south into militant bases, with hidden rocket launchers and other infrastructure. That could lead it to wage an especially heavy bombing campaign, even if no ground forces move in.
Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes on southern Lebanon early Monday.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian medical officials say Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have killed eight Palestinians, including five children.
A girl and her parents were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza early Monday. The girl’s two siblings were wounded.
Israel has struck several such schools-turned-shelters, saying militants hide out in them.
Another strike hit a home near the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah, killing a mother and her four children, aged 4 to 8.
The casualties from both strikes were described in hospital records, and an Associated Press reporter saw the bodies.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians but rarely comments on individual strikes.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. It does not say how many were fighters. It says a little over half were women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 of the captives are still being held in Gaza, and a third of them are believed to be dead.
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia has announced it will provide an additional 10 million Australian dollars ($6.8 million) in aid to Gaza, bringing the total since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7 last year to AU$82.5 million ($56.2 million).
A government statement said on Monday the new money would focus on women and children. It would be provided through the United Nations Population Fund, a sexual and reproductive health agency, and the U.N. agency responsible for aiding children, UNICEF.
“Australia continues to push for safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to people in desperate need, and for all aid workers to be protected,” the statement said.
MUWASI, Gaza Strip — As the first rain of the cool season starts to fall in the Gaza Strip, displaced Palestinians living in the sprawling Muwasi tent camp are struggling to cope with flooding that is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.
Some children are entertained by the novelty of walking barefoot in the ankle-deep water, but their parents are less amused. The adults try to save what they can from their family's tents. One mother tries to dry her temporary home with a mop.
“We woke up in the morning to find the tents with rainwater pouring on us, and water from the streets entering on us,” said Rana Goza’t, a displaced person from Gaza City. “This is the beginning of winter. What will happen in the coming days?”
Suhail Al-Barawi, a displaced person from Beit Lahiya, was helping to build sand barriers to prevent more flooding in the camp.
“People wish for rain," he said, "and we say, ‘Oh God, do not give us rain.’”
The nearly yearlong war between Israel and Hamas has displaced 90% of Palestinians in Gaza, according to the United Nations.
Israel’s defense minister says recent attacks on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon are a step toward facilitating the return of displaced Israelis to their homes in the north of the country.
Speaking Sunday evening after visiting the military’s Northern Command headquarters, Yoav Gallant described the recent air strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut as “significant, important and powerful.”
He says Israel will take all necessary measures to ensure “the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes.”
Israeli attacks since Friday have killed dozens in Lebanon, including a veteran Hezbollah commander. Hezbollah responded with more than 100 missile attacks in northern Israel early Sunday, sending hundreds of thousands of Israelis into air raid shelters.
Gallant says: “The past week has been the most difficult in the history of Hezbollah’s existence —especially over the past day.”
Residents react as rescuers sift through the rubble, searching for people still missing at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The rubble of a building at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on villages in the Nabatiyeh district, seen from the southern town of Marjayoun, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Emergency workers use excavators to clear the rubble at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A Palestinian child wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip is treated in a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives, including kids killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, outside a morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners transport the bodies of their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip during their funeral in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Israeli army jeeps move into the West Bank city of Nablus during a raid, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024,(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed).
An emergency worker speaks on the phone during rescue efforts at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburb, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A couple try to salvage some of their belongings from a damaged apartment at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburb, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A Hezbollah supporter carries a Palestinian flag near a picture of Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Akil, during Akil's funeral procession in Beirut's southern suburb, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Kfar Rouman village, as seen from Marjayoun town, south Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Khiam village, as seen from Marjayoun town, south Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Kfar Rouman village, as seen from Marjayoun town, south Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
