‘There is no justification’: Israeli tank fires at UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

Beirut: The United Nations’ peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said two of its personnel were injured when an Israeli tank fired at a watchtower at the force’s main headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura, hitting the tower and causing the peacekeepers to fall. There were no casualties in two other incidents, a UN source said.

The two peacekeepers were from Indonesia’s contingent and were in good condition after being treated for light injuries, Indonesia Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in a statement.

A UN peacekeeping soldier directs traffic at a road that links to a UNIFIL base in Naqoura town, Lebanon.Credit: AP/File

However, the safety of more than 10,400 UN peacekeepers from about 50 countries in Lebanon was “increasingly in jeopardy” and operations have virtually halted since late September, the forces chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the UN Security Council. That coincides with Israel’s escalation of its conflict with Lebanon.

UNIFIL called attacks on peacekeepers “a grave violation of international humanitarian law”.

The White House said the US was deeply concerned by the reports and was pressing Israel for details. In a statement, it also said that although Israel was conducting operations in the area to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure that could threaten Israelis, “it is critical that they not threaten UN peacekeepers’ safety and security”.

UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion. The UN expanded its mission following the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war, allowing peacekeepers to deploy along the Israeli border.

A UN peacekeeper from Ghana sits atop an armoured vehicle in Naqoura in southern Lebanon after the ceasefire in 2006.Credit: AP

Canada, Italy, Jordan and the European Union all condemned the attack.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, sharply condemned the Israeli strikes as “an inadmissible act, for which there is no justification”.

“Another line has been dangerously crossed in Lebanon,” he wrote on social media platform X.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her government had formally protested to Israeli authorities. Meloni said she received updates from the two Italian bases located in outposts that were hit by Israeli gunfire and praised the peacekeepers for their “valuable work”. Italy has about 1000 soldiers deployed as UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry also denounced the strikes as a “dangerous escalation” and “flagrant violation of international law”.

Israel’s military said in a statement its troops operated in the Naqoura area, “next to a UNIFIL base”.

“Accordingly, the IDF instructed the UN forces in the area to remain in protected spaces, following which the forces opened fire in the area,” Israel’s statement said, adding it maintains routine communication with UNIFIL.

In New York, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Israel recommends UNIFIL relocate 5 kilometres north “to avoid danger as fighting intensifies”.

Hezbollah said it had fired a missile salvo at Israeli forces on Thursday as they were trying to pull casualties out of the Ras al-Naqoura area, and they were directly hit.

The peacekeepers were determined to remain at their posts despite Israeli attacks and orders by Israel’s military to leave, the force’s spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said.

People gather in front of destroyed buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon.Credit: AP

At least 22 people were killed and 117 wounded in Israeli airstrikes that hit two areas in central Beirut, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

The strikes hit a densely packed residential neighbourhood of apartment buildings and small shops in the heart of Beirut. Israel had not previously struck the area, which is removed from Beirut’s southern suburbs where Hezbollah’s headquarters have been repeatedly bombed by Israel. The second strike in the area of Burj Abi Haidar, collapsed an entire building, which was engulfed in flames

Israel did not issue evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes, which were the deadliest attack on central Beirut since the beginning of the hostilities.

Among the dead was a family of eight, including three children, who had evacuated from the south, according to a security source.

People gather in front of destroyed buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon.Credit: AP

There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military, but a senior Hezbollah official eluded an Israeli assassination attempt in Beirut.

Wafiq Safa, who heads Hezbollah’s liaison and coordination unit responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies, was targeted by Israel but survived, two security sources said.

The attempt to kill Safa, whose role merges security and political affairs, marked a widening of Israel’s targets among Hezbollah officials, which previously focused on the group’s military commanders and top leaders.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 2169 people in Lebanon over the last year, the Lebanese government said in its daily update, the majority since September 23. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Meanwhile, a strike on a school sheltering displaced people in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah also killed 27 people, including a child and seven women, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, to where the bodies were taken. It said several other people were wounded.

The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike targeting a militant command and control centre inside the school. Israel has repeatedly attacked schools that were turned into shelters in Gaza, accusing militants of hiding out in them.

In Tel Aviv, Israel’s police and Shin Bet internal security service said they arrested five Palestinians from northern Israel associated with the Islamic State group over an alleged plan to bomb a shopping centre in Tel Aviv.

The Shin Bet said the five men were active in online discussions on how to plant a car bomb that would topple large skyscrapers in central Tel Aviv. The suspects also allegedly watched videos of IS attacks in Syria.

Police said they thwarted the plan “in the early stages of its implementation” and seized weapons from their home. Police did not provide further evidence. Two of the men had expressed interest in going abroad to fight with IS, according to police.

The arrests came as Israel faced a spate of shooting and stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinians from Israel and the occupied West Bank that have killed nine people and wounded dozens in recent days.

Reuters, AP

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