UN says Israeli forces fire on UN peacekeeper positions in south Lebanon

Israeli forces fired on positions used by U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon on Wednesday and Thursday, the U.N. force said, as Israel warned Lebanese civilians not to return to homes in the south and pursued a widening offensive against Hezbollah.

The UNIFIL force said two of its peacekeepers were injured in one of the incidents when an Israeli tank fired at a watchtower at the force’s main headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura, hitting the tower and causing them to fall. There were no casualties in the other two incidents, a U.N. source said.

“Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” UNIFIL said in a statement, adding that it was following up with the Israeli military.

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.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

But in New York, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said Israel was focused on fighting Hezbollah and recommends “UNIFIL relocate 5 km (3 miles) north to avoid danger as fighting intensifies”. Reuters reported last week that the Israeli military had sent a message asking U.N. peacekeepers to prepare to move “as soon as possible, in order to maintain your safety”.

Danon added that “Israel has no desire to be in Lebanon, but it will do what is necessary” to drive Hezbollah away from its northern border so 70,000 displaced residents can return to their homes in northern Israel.

The conflict erupted one year ago when Hezbollah opened fire in support of Palestinian militant group Hamas at the start of the Gaza war. It has intensified dramatically in recent weeks, with Israel bombing Beirut’s southern suburbs, the south and the Bekaa Valley, before sending in ground forces.

Later on Thursday a thick column of smoke could be seen rising from central Beirut after missiles were heard flying over the Lebanese capital, Reuters witnesses said. It was not immediately clear what was hit.

The Middle East remains on high alert for further escalation in the region, awaiting Israel’s response to an Iranian missile strike on Oct. 1.

Gulf states are lobbying Washington to stop Israel from attacking Iran’s oil sites because they are concerned their own oil facilities could come under fire from Tehran’s proxies if the conflict worsens, three Gulf sources told Reuters.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday about potential Israeli retaliation against Iran, in a call both sides described as positive.

ITALY PROTESTS

Israel says its Lebanon offensive aims to secure the return home of people who evacuated northern Israel due to Hezbollah rocket fire. Israeli attacks have uprooted more than one million people in Lebanon in the past few weeks.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 2,169 people in Lebanon over the last year, the Lebanese government said in its daily update. The majority have been killed since Sept. 27, when Israel expanded its military campaign. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Hezbollah cross-border fire at Israel has killed 53 people over the same period, more than half of them civilians.

In a statement, UNIFIL said Israeli soldiers had also fired at a U.N. position in Ras al-Naqoura near the Israeli border, “hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system”.

“An IDF drone was observed flying inside the U.N. position up to the bunker entrance,” UNIFIL said. The previous day, Israeli forces had “fired at and disabled the position’s perimeter-monitoring cameras”, it added. Israeli forces also deliberately fired at and damaged another position, it said.

UNIFIL was set up in 1978 and expanded after an inconclusive 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Its major contributing nations include France, Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia and Ghana.

Italy has protested to Israel over the incident, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said. Firing on UNIFIL bases was “totally unacceptable” and clearly flouted international law, he said in a statement.

The Israeli military said on Thursday that airstrikes overnight and the day before targeted weapons storage facilities in Beirut’s southern suburbs and in south Lebanon, where it said Hezbollah infrastructure was struck.

In a post on X, it told residents of southern Lebanon they should not return “to the homes they have evacuated in the villages and towns until further notice for their safety”.

RESCUE WORKERS KILLED

Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike overnight hit a civil defence centre in Derdghaiya, some 10 km (6 miles) from the border, killing five paramedics and rescue workers.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Israel has dealt Hezbollah stunning blows in recent weeks – including the Sept. 27 assassination of its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on south Beirut.

But Hezbollah has sustained rocket fire into Israel, and a further 40 projectiles were identified crossing the border from Lebanon, some of which were intercepted while several fell in the area of the upper Galilee, the Israeli military said in an update on Thursday.