Israel says it fired on ‘threat’ near UN site in Lebanon | National

The two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were injured at UNIFIL’s main force base in Naqura, southern Lebanon, a day after two Indonesian soldiers were injured when tank fire hit a guard tower, according to the mission.

As Israel faced strong condemnation from United Nations chief Antonio Guterres and Western allies, its army vowed to conduct a “thorough review” while releasing its preliminary findings.

Israeli soldiers responded to “an immediate threat” with fire around 50 meters (yards) from the UNIFIL post, the military said.

“An initial investigation revealed that a hit was detected on a UNIFIL pole during the incident… resulting in the injury of two UNIFIL personnel,” the statement continued.

Sean Clancy, chief of staff of the Irish Defense Forces, said he did not believe Israel’s explanation.

“So from a military perspective, this is not a coincidence,” said Clancy, whose country has troops in the UNIFIL mission.

Peacekeepers have been on the front lines of the war between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally from Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has screened 690,000 internally displaced people in Lebanon and they have “great needs,” IOM regional director Othman Belbeisi told AFP.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the shooting as “intolerable” and “a breach of international humanitarian law”, while the British government said it was “appalled” by reports of the injuries.

US President Joe Biden said on Friday he was “absolutely” calling on Israel to cease fire on UN peacekeepers, while the leaders of France, Spain and Italy expressed their “outrage” in a joint statement.

French President Emmanuel Macron renewed his call for an end to Israel’s arms exports to Gaza and Lebanon, saying U.N. peacekeepers had been “deliberately targeted.”

The incidents came more than two weeks after Israel’s war with Iran-backed Hezbollah began in Lebanon, with Israeli warplanes carrying out extensive strikes on the militants’ strongholds and deploying ground troops across the border since September 23.

– “Immediate ceasefire” –

Clashes broke out along the border between Israeli and Hezbollah forces on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, with Israeli airstrikes reported in southern and eastern Lebanon

Air raid sirens wailed in areas of northwestern Israel after Hezbollah fired up to 80 projectiles, according to the Israeli military.

More sirens were later reported, including north of Tel Aviv, after two drones entered from Lebanon. They were “successfully intercepted” with no casualties, but a building in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, was damaged, the military said.

From sunset on Friday until nightfall on Saturday, Israeli markets will be closed, flights suspended and public transportation suspended as most Jews fast and pray on the Day of Atonement, Judaism’s holiest day.

Diplomatic efforts to negotiate an end to fighting in Lebanon and Gaza have so far failed, but Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his government would ask the U.N. Security Council to adopt a new resolution calling for a “full and immediate ceasefire “ demands.

Heads of state and government from nine European Mediterranean countries also called for an end to the fighting in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip on Friday. The heads of state and government met at a summit in Cyprus.

Mikati said that only the Lebanese army and peacekeepers should be deployed in the south of the country – the core of existing Security Council Resolution 1701 – and “Hezbollah is united on this issue.”

The Lebanese army said two of its soldiers were killed in an Israeli attack on one of its positions in southern Lebanon on Friday.

Hezbollah is heavily armed and controls large swathes of Lebanon, and successive Lebanese governments have failed to subdue it.

The movement also fought against Israeli troops during the last Israeli invasion in 2006.

– Attack in Beirut –

In Beirut, residents of a central part of the capital hit by two Israeli airstrikes on Thursday evening recovered their belongings and cleared debris from the destroyed streets.

“There are a lot of families living here,” said Bilal Othman, who explained that many people had sought refuge there from southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold that has been hit by Israeli attacks since last month.

“Are you telling us that there is no longer a safe place in this country?” he said.

The Israeli strikes appeared to target Hezbollah’s security chief Wafiq Safa, a source close to Hezbollah told AFP.

Lebanon’s health ministry said 22 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the attacks.

Safa was close to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike on southern Beirut last month.

The areas hardest hit by the war are home to the majority Shiite Muslims, where Hezbollah has established its support base.

But Christian villagers near the border were also caught in the crossfire.

“When Israel bombs, it flies over our heads. And when Hezbollah shoots back, it also whizzes past the top,” Joseph Jarjour told AFP by telephone from the border village of Rmeish. “We have never liked war.”

– Children in Gaza –

Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas after an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that killed 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s military operation has wreaked havoc in the Gaza Strip, killing 42,126 people, mostly civilians, in the Hamas-controlled area, according to the Health Ministry.

Late Friday, Gaza’s Civil Defense Authority reported that 30 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.

The co-leader of a group of Japanese atomic bomb survivors that won the Nobel Peace Prize said the situation of children in Gaza reminded him of the plight of survivors after World War II.

“It’s like Japan 80 years ago,” said Toshiyuki Mimaki in Tokyo.

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