The leaders of France, Italy and Spain have condemned “unjustifiable” Israeli attacks that have hit the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon amid heightened conflict in the region.
In a joint statement, the three EU countries, which contribute troops to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) expressed “outrage” as they accused Israel of seriously violating their obligations under humanitarian international law and said such attacks should “immediately come to an end”.
Italian premier Giorgia Meloni and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez joined Emmanuel Macron in condemning what the French president called Israel’s “deliberate targeting” of UNIFIL soldiers.
“We condemn it, we do not tolerate it and we do not tolerate it happening again,” Mr Macron said.
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US President Joe Biden said he was asking close ally in the region Israel not to strike UNIFIL forces and Downing Street said it was “appalled” by reports that Israel deliberately fired on peacekeepers.
UNIFIL said an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura in southern Lebanon on Thursday, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers.
The peacekeeping force said its headquarters were affected by further explosions on Friday which injured two peacekeepers. One was taken to hospital.
The Israeli military on Friday expressed “deep concern” and said two peacekeepers, believed to be from Sri Lanka, had been injured by Israeli fire as it was engaging with Hezbollah militants.
Rescue workers search for victims at the site of Thursday’s Israeli airstrike in Beirut. Pic: AP
The Italian defence ministry summoned Israel’s ambassador in protest, and Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris said he was deeply concerned, with the Irish Defence Forces serving with UNIFIL. He said all Irish troops in the south of Lebanon were accounted for.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has also condemned the incidents.
Andrea Tenenti, a spokesperson for UNIFIL, told Sky News his peacekeepers have been attacked four times in the last 48 hours.
“Even the secretary general yesterday was very vocal,” he said. “This is a violation of international humanitarian law, attacking peacekeepers in peacekeeping operations.”
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Mr Tenenti said the IDF asked peacekeepers to move away from the “blue line” – a dividing line between Lebanon and Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights – where peacekeepers were tasked with reducing tensions by a UN resolution.
But UNIFIL decided to stay to provide humanitarian support to thousands of people stuck in the south, he said.
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Following the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, UN Resolution 1701 was designed to allow peacekeepers to help the Lebanese army keep the south of Lebanon free of weapons and armed personnel other than those of the Lebanese state.
The area they were instructed to operate within extends from the Israeli border and the Golan Heights to the Litani river.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted a year ago when the Iranian-backed group started launching rockets at northern Israel in support of Palestinian militant group Hamas, at the beginning of the Gaza war.
It has intensified in recent weeks, with Israel bombing southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, killing many of Hezbollah’s top leaders, and sending ground troops across the border.
Hezbollah, for its part, has fired rockets deeper into Israel.
An Israeli strike overnight on Thursday in the heart of Beirut killed 22 people and wounded 139, Lebanese caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati said.
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Scores killed in central Beirut strike
Lebanon’s army said two of its soldiers were killed and three others were wounded when Israeli forces hit a building near one of its military posts in Kafra in the south.
Israel said its campaign in Lebanon aims to make northern Israel safe for tens of thousands of people who were forced to leave over the last year by Hezbollah rocket fire.
More than 1.2 million people have been displaced by Israel’s expanded operation, according to the Lebanese government, which said more than 2,100 people have been killed and over 10,000 wounded in the fighting.
Meanwhile, Israeli military strikes killed at least 61 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Friday, medics told Reuters.
Nearly half of the deaths happened in Jabalia – Gaza’s largest refugee camp. Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, has warned that thousands of people are trapped in the camp as Israel attacks the area.
The Israeli military said it has killed dozens of militants in Jabalia.