Downing Street has condemned “appalling” Israeli strikes which rocked the UN peacekeeping headquarters in Lebanon twice in 48 hours, sparking fury among Israel’s allies.
As Israel continues its assault on Hezbollah, which has so far displaced more than 1.2 million people, Beirut reeled from two fresh air raids on Thursday night – Israel’s deadliest so far – which claimed at least 22 lives and wounded a further 139 people in areas dense with those who have led their homes.
The first strike hit an eight-storey apartment in Ras al-Nabaa, with witnesses reporting continued explosions throughout the building. The second strike, in the area of Burj Abi Haidar, was reported to have collapsed an entire building as it went up in flames.
A further eight people at least were killed in intensified airstrikes across villages in southern and eastern Lebanon on Friday evening, the Lebanese health ministry said.
As rescuers combed the rubble in Beirut, both France and Italy summoned Israel’s ambassadors to demand answers after four UN peacekeepers were injured in Israeli strikes on Thursday and Friday, with both countries – as well as Ireland and Spain – calling the attacks a serious violation of international law.
The Israeli military expressed “deep concern” and said its fire had injured two peacekeepers at the Naqoura base – both from Sri Lanka – as it was engaging Hezbollah on Friday. Israel said they had been warned hours earlier to take shelter.
The two UN peacekeepers injured on Thursday were Indonesian and fell from an observation tower at Naqoura after an Israeli tank fired towards them. Israel said Hezbollah fighters were operating from areas near the base.
After Thursday’s attack, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) accused Israel of having “deliberately” fired at its Naqoura base the previous day as well, demanding that the security of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed.
A Downing Street spokesperson told reporters on Friday: “We were appalled to hear those reports and it is vital that peacekeepers and civilians are protected.
“As you know we continue to call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to suffering and bloodshed. It is a reminder of the importance of us all renewing our diplomatic efforts to resolve this.”
In a phone call with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, the Pentagon said US defence secretary Lloyd Austin had emphasised the importance of ensuring the safety of Unifil forces and urged Israel to “pivot from military operations to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible”.
Israel expanded its military operation to Lebanon last month, having spent a year waging intense war on Hamas in Gaza, where the death toll now exceeds 42,000. That war was sparked by the militant group’s attack on Israel on 7 October, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages taken.
UN officials warned on Friday that critical aid lifelines into northern Gaza have been cut off as Israel renews its offensive there, which Israel denied, while humanitarian organisation MedGlobal warned that the hostilities have driven the remaining healthcare facilities in the north “to the brink of collapse”.
Israel says its new campaign in Lebanon aims to make northern Israel safe for tens of thousands of people forced to leave over the last year as a result of rocket launches by Hezbollah, which began trading frequent cross-border fire with Israel in solidarity with its fellow Iran-backed ally Hamas last October.
Swathes of Hezbollah’s leadership have now been killed in Israeli strikes, including the group’s influential leader of 32 years, Hassan Nasrallah.
According to the Lebanese government, Israel’s bombardment has killed 2,100 people, most of them in the past fortnight, and has forced a fifth of the country’s population from their homes. Hezbollah rockets have killed at least 54 people in Israel, more than half of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities.
Amid alarm over the risk of a wider Middle East war, nine southern European countries issued a statement on Friday expressing their “extreme concern” over Israel’s military operations in Lebanon.
In a joint declaration, the leaders of the MED9 – Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia, Portugal and Croatia – said they would “continue advocating for further support to Lebanon and its people, including to the Lebanese Armed Forces which are called to play a critical stabilising role”.
French president Emmanuel Macron told reporters the return of the Lebanese armed forces to south Lebanon and the restoration of Lebanese sovereignty “are essential to its peace and stability”.
Lebanon’s army said on Friday that two of its soldiers had been killed and three wounded when Israeli forces attacked one of its military posts in Kafra in the south.
Additional reporting by agencies