Israeli forces fired on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon and wounded two of them, according to the U.N. force, which called it “a grave violation of international humanitarian law.”
The episode, which injured two soldiers from Indonesia, drew international criticism from countries like France, Italy and Spain as the Israeli military waged a ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon that has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands since the war broke out, Lebanese officials said.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, commonly known by its acronym, UNIFIL, said an Israeli tank had fired toward and “directly” hit an observation tower at the force’s headquarters in Naqoura, Lebanon, and that soldiers had struck the entrance of a bunker at a separate base nearby where peacekeepers were sheltering.
The U.N. force condemned the strike, saying in a statement on Thursday that it was following up with the Israeli military, which said that it was “looking into the reports.”
Since 1978, UNIFIL has had the task of maintaining peace along a volatile 75-mile stretch of territory called the Blue Line, the de facto border to which Israel withdrew after ending its occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000.
The town of Naqoura has been home to UNIFIL’s headquarters for decades. While other troops have been injured since last October, when Hezbollah and the Israeli military started increasingly trading cross-border fire, the recent cases have been more serious and have raised alarm.
Hezbollah exercises de facto control over much of southern Lebanon, and Israeli officials have repeatedly criticized UNIFIL for failing to deter the group’s operations in that part of the country. The U.N. force has said that its powers as a peacekeeping operation are inherently limited.
Hezbollah has been sending rockets into Israel since last October in solidarity with its ally Hamas in Gaza. In return, Israel’s military has pounded Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, part of its broadening campaign against the Iranian-backed militant group. Israeli warplanes have also pummeled Hezbollah’s stronghold south of Beirut, targeting and killing its leader and other senior commanders.
Last week, Israeli ground troops invaded southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds sway, and they have been battling the militants in deadly and close combat in the days since.
UNIFIL stressed that it was paramount for Israel, Hezbollah and other combatants “to ensure the safety and security” of its personnel and facilities, noting that the episode on Thursday came amid intensified combat that was “causing widespread destruction of towns and villages in south Lebanon.”
Last week, a UNIFIL spokesman said that Israel’s military had established new positions beside a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon and had been firing at Hezbollah positions from those locations, raising concerns about the peacekeepers’ safety.
Asked about an Israeli request to move U.N. peacekeepers five kilometers north, Farhan Haq, a spokesman for the U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, said, “While we continue to assess the safety and security of our peacekeeping forces, it’s important that they also fulfill their mandate, and they are, at present, staying in their positions.” Mr. Haq added, “There’s no cause for any member state to target UNIFIL forces.”
The two soldiers injured on Thursday were hospitalized with “not serious” wounds, according to a U.N. official briefed on the attacks.
The peacekeepers inside the bunker in the second episode — at a base in the town of Labbouneh, about two miles from Naqoura — were Italian, said the official, who requested anonymity because he had not been authorized to speak to the news media.
UNIFIL said vehicles and communications equipment had been damaged. It also said that a day earlier, Israeli soldiers had “fired at and disabled” the security cameras around the U.N. site in Labbouneh.
Italy has one of the largest contingents in the UNIFIL force. The country’s defense minister, Guido Crosetto, said at a news conference on Thursday that “the hostile acts committed and repeated by Israeli forces” against the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force “could constitute war crimes.” He called the acts “serious violations of the norms of international law, not justified by any military reason.”
Mr. Crosetto also said in a statement that he had summoned the Israeli ambassador to protest what is happening in southern Lebanon, particularly at the Italian bases, and called it “totally unacceptable.”
Spain said that firing at U.N. peacekeepers was a “grave violation” of international law. France, which last month put forward a proposal for a 21-day pause in the fighting, condemned “any threat to UNIFIL’s security.”
“The protection of peacekeepers is an obligation imposed on all parties to a conflict,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement. “France calls on the parties to respect this obligation.”
Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, said in a statement from his office on Thursday: “Our recommendation is that UNIFIL relocate five kilometers north to avoid danger as fighting intensifies and while the situation along the Blue Line remains volatile as a result of Hezbollah’s aggression.”
He added that “Israel has no desire to be in Lebanon, but it will do what is necessary” to force Hezbollah away from its northern border so that some 70,000 residents could return to their homes in northern Israel.
An Israeli strike hit central Beirut on Thursday, Lebanon state media said. The densely populated area houses residents displaced recently from south Lebanon and the Dahiya and Bekaa. At least one building was destroyed, according to news reports.
An Israeli strike also killed at least five members of the country’s civil defense agency overnight, according to Lebanon’s health ministry and state news media. The strike hit a base of operations where the emergency workers were waiting to respond to relief calls, said Elie Khairallah, a spokesman for the agency.
He said the agency’s regional chief was among those killed and that the building, near a church in the southern Lebanese town of Derdghaiya, was leveled in the attack.
Lebanon’s health ministry condemned the killings, accusing the Israeli military of targeting ambulance crews and rescue teams. There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military.
At least 65 health workers have been killed in Lebanon since Israel intensified its offensive against Hezbollah three weeks ago, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. It added that the agency had recorded 16 “attacks on health care” across the country in the same period.
Israel’s military has accused Hezbollah of hiding within the civilian population, in one case saying that the militant group had set up a command center next to a hospital.
Hezbollah kept up its rocket attacks into Israel on Thursday, setting off sirens in parts of the country’s north. Some were intercepted but several struck the area, according to the military. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Hezbollah said it had been targeting Israeli troops stationed along the border with Lebanon, and in the city of Kiryat Shmona.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, suggested in a statement from his office on Thursday that diplomatic efforts with the United States and France to secure a pause in the fighting had “intensified.”
There was no immediate comment from the United States.
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