UNIFIL says Israeli tank fired on peacekeepers’ watchtower in Lebanon | Israel attacks Lebanon news

UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon say Israeli forces fired on one of their positions in the south, damaging a watchtower, in a “direct and apparently premeditated” attack.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said on Wednesday its peacekeepers near Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon observed an Israeli Merkava tank “firing on their watchtower,” adding that “two cameras were destroyed and “the tower was damaged”.

The incident is the latest in a series of Israeli attacks and violations against peacekeepers in Lebanon and comes as Israel expands its bombings and ground attacks on the country, killing hundreds of people and displacing nearly a quarter of the population.

On Sunday, UNIFIL said that Israeli troops with two tanks “forcibly entered a UNIFIL position near the village of Ramyah,” crossing the UN-mandated Blue Line, the de facto border between Israel and Lebanon would have. Israeli troops later fired smoke projectiles near peacekeepers, causing 15 personnel to suffer skin irritation and gastrointestinal problems.

UNIFIL also reported that Israeli troops hindered a key logistical movement near Meiss el-Jabal on Saturday.

“We remind the IDF and all actors of their obligation to ensure the security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times,” the peacekeeping mission said.

The Israeli government called on UNIFIL to leave its positions in southern Lebanon, claiming that the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was using peacekeepers as “human shields”, but the peacekeeper refused to do so.

Hezbollah denies Israel’s accusation that it is using the proximity of peacekeepers to protect its fighters.

“Significant concerns”

Israeli ground troops, who entered southern Lebanon more than two weeks ago, are fighting Hezbollah in the region. Supported by fighter jets, Israeli forces continue to attack towns and villages. At least 16 people were killed in an Israeli attack on a community building in Nabatea on Wednesday.

The UN Security Council has called on Israel to protect peacekeepers and their positions amid widespread international condemnation of the attacks.

UNIFIL consists of around 10,000 peacekeepers from more than 50 countries, including Indonesia, India and Ireland.

On Wednesday, 16 EU countries that contribute soldiers to the U.N. peacekeeping mission called for revised rules of engagement in Lebanon, saying they must be more effective in light of recent attacks.

“The message we want to send to Israel is: if you stop your army, the United Nations can also change its approach in this part of Lebanon so that we can peacefully achieve what you are trying to do now by destroying the bases of the Hezbollah should be attacked militarily.” Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told Italian public broadcaster RAI.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has expressed “particular grave concern” over Israel’s recent attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.

“We are extremely concerned about the dangerous escalation in Lebanon and reiterate our support for the Lebanese people,” the GCC said in a joint statement with the EU after a summit in Brussels.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s crisis response unit said 27 people were killed and 185 injured in the past 24 hours, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

At least 2,367 people have been killed and 11,109 injured in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October 8, 2023, the ministry said.

The crisis response unit recorded 138 airstrikes and shelling last day, mostly in southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa Valley.

Rescue workers injured

Separately, two Lebanese Red Cross medics were injured by shrapnel while searching for injured people after an attack on the town of Jouaiya in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese Red Cross posted on the social platform

As medics began searching for casualties, the area came under attack again, leaving two medics with minor shrapnel wounds. Both were taken to Jabal Amel Hospital “and their condition is not worrying,” the group said.

Four Lebanese Red Cross volunteers were also injured in a strike on Sunday while responding to an attack in Serbine, a village in Nabatea governorate.

According to the Health Ministry, over 100 medics have been killed and more than 220 injured by Israeli airstrikes since October 8. The strikes also destroyed 128 ambulances and fire engines and damaged at least 10 hospitals and 45 medical centers.

Al Jazeera correspondent Ali Hashem says Israel’s systematic destruction of Lebanese towns near their shared border shows that Israel is trying to make the area uninhabitable.

“In the south we saw images of Israel blowing up an entire village, the village of Mhaibib, which is right on the border,” he reported from Beirut.

“This suggests that there is an attempt to make the border villages uninhabitable so that people do not return there, even if there is an agreement or an end to hostilities between the two sides.”