Brazil's Ministry of International Relations said on Sunday (2) that the Brazilian family that was injured in a bombing last Saturday (1) in Lebanon was the victim of an attack by Israel.

Itamaraty formally accused Israel of the attack. “The episode occurred in the context of attacks by the Israeli armed forces in southern Lebanon and by Hezbollah in northern Israel,” it said in a statement. “The Brazilian Embassy in Beirut is in contact with the relatives and the medical team and is providing consular support.”

Until now, Israel's participation in the attack was only a hypothesis. Yesterday, an Israeli aircraft without a pilot was shot down over Lebanese territory by the extremist cell Hezbollah. Videos circulating on social media show a Hermes 900 drone crashing in the south of the country.

The Brazilian Embassy in Beirut says it has been monitoring the Israel-Palestine conflict “since the beginning”. “Brazil urges the parties involved (...) to prevent the spread of the conflict in Gaza and to avoid new innocent civilian victims,” the note continues. The Brazilian government expresses its indignation and condemns yesterday's bombing (...) which resulted in injuries to three Brazilian citizens. Itamaraty, in a statement Girl almost amputated

The home of Brazilians in the town of Saddike, in the south of Lebanon, was hit by a bombardment on Saturday (1st), at around 11am in Brazil. Fatima Boustani, 30, her 12-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son were injured. The girl was watching TV when the house was hit.

“She was rescued by neighbors in a state of shock,” says Hussein Ezzddein, cousin of the children's father, Ahmad Aidibi, who is staying at his home in Greater São Paulo. “The hospital planned to cut off her leg, but the family asked them to and another doctor performed a second operation on her leg. Now she's in the ICU under observation because she's lost a lot of blood.”

Fatima “is in a very serious condition”. With bleeding in her head and lungs, her condition is so serious that the Brazilian Consulate in Lebanon tried to transfer her to a hospital in the capital, Beirut, but doctors advised against it. “She's intubated. They didn't authorize an ambulance because of her condition,” says Ezzddein. The boy suffered abrasions and is under observation in the infirmary. The eldest son, 13, and the youngest, 7, were at their grandmother's house during the attack and were not hit.

Ezzddein asks the Brazilian government to repatriate the family and send a psychologist to help his father. Aidibi “won't accept it, he just screams and cries”, says his cousin. “He hasn't slept or eaten since yesterday. He just smokes and cries.” He keeps shouting: 'How come I'm walking and my daughter isn't? He's in a deep state of depression, he's in shock. Hussein Ezzddein, Aidibi's cousin

Assets of Polo Obrero leader Eduardo Belliboni, who is under investigation for alleged welfare fraud and embezzlement, frozen by federal judge.

Federal Judge Sebastián Casanello on Wednesday ordered the freezing of the assets of Polo Obrero leader Eduardo Belliboni, who is under investigation for alleged welfare fraud and embezzlement.

The move against the leftist social and picket leader is part of a government clampdown on welfare fraud and what it calls the ‘business of poverty’.

Casanello has asked for a lien to be placed on the assets of Belliboni, 64, a high-profile picket leader and leader of Polo Obrero, a Trotskyist social movement which has been at the forefront of demonstrations against various administrations for years.

Belliboni was summoned by the courts on Monday and will appear in June before Casanello, along with some 20 leaders of soup kitchens and social movements who are often managers of public aid programmes in a country where half the population lives in poverty.

The summons followed a series of raids in mid-May, in line with the government's intention to ‘audit’ social assistance and its alleged abuses. It alleges that in one audit, some 47 percent of soup kitchens registered with the government either did not exist or could not be located.

In the case of Polo Obrero, documents filed in court by government departments allege that only 30 percent of the 360 million pesos (US$395,000) placed into the organisation's hands between 2020 and 2023 as part of the ‘Potenciar Trabajo’ social aid programme were properly accounted for.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Polo Obrero claimed that the funds “were fully accounted for to the Social Development Ministry, in the framework of the programmes for which they were allocated.”

The document, which denounces a “policy of persecution” on the part of Milei administration, states that the government is moving “against independent and militant organisations.”

“We have nothing to hide,” said Belliboni, who considers the case to be “a smokescreen to hide the fact that the economy is collapsing” and that thousands of jobs are being lost every day.

In the framework of the austerity programme implemented by Milei's government since he took office last December, chronic inflation is slowing down but the recession is worsening.

Belliboni said he will take advantage of his summons before the judge to file a complaint against the authorities' holding up of tonnes of food aid in warehouses.

Judge Casanello himself ordered the immediate distribution of this aid on Monday, but the government, which has filed an appeal, claims that these are “reserves” dedicated “to emergencies and catastrophes.”

On Wednesday, a demonstration was held in front of a warehouse where this food is stored in Villa Martelli, a suburb of Buenos Aires.