Israeli forces fired on U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Thursday and wounded two of them, according to the U.N. force.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon — commonly known by its acronym, UNIFIL — said Israeli tank fire hit an observation tower at the force’s headquarters in Naqoura and that soldiers also struck the entrance of a bunker at a separate base where peacekeepers were sheltering.
The reports came as Israel’s military continued to pound Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, part of its broadening campaign against the Iranian-backed militant group that in recent weeks has evolved into a ground invasion, with close combat in the southern part of the country where Hezbollah holds sway.
“Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” the U.N. force said in a statement on Thursday, adding that it was following up with the Israeli military. When asked for comment, Israel’s military said it was “looking into the reports” that its forces had fired on peacekeepers.
UNIFIL stressed that it was paramount for Israel, Hezbollah and other actors to “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 Israel’s military had established new positions beside a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon and been firing at Hezbollah positions from those locations — raising concerns about the safety of the peacekeepers.
The spokesman, Andrea Tenenti, said Israel’s military had asked UNIFIL to relocate its personnel as it invaded southern Lebanon but that the mission had declined to do so. An Israeli military official confirmed the presence near that peacekeeping base, and said that Hezbollah was launching rockets from next to the base with impunity.
The two soldiers injured on Thursday — who the peacekeeping force said were hospitalized but whose wounds were “not serious” — were from Indonesia, according to a U.N. official briefed on the attacks.
The peacekeepers inside the bunker in the second episode — at a base in the nearby town of Labbouneh — were Italian, said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. UNIFIL said vehicles and communications equipment were damaged.
It also said that a day earlier Israeli soldiers had “fired at and disabled” the security cameras around the perimeter of the U.N. facility in Labbouneh.
The town of Naqoura has been home to UNIFIL 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 raised alarm.
Elsewhere in southern Lebanon, an Israeli strike 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 there against the Iranian-backed militant group 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 of time.
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. On Wednesday, a rocket attack in Kiryat Shmona killed two civilians.
The Israeli military said it had detected 105 rocket launches from Lebanon on Thursday. It earlier said it had struck 110 sites in the country over the past day and claimed to have killed two Hezbollah commanders. Hezbollah did not comment on the claims.
With the fighting showing no sign of letting up, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, suggested on Thursday that diplomatic efforts with the United States and France to secure a pause in the fighting had “intensified.”
Mr. Mikati’s comments, in a statement from his office, could not be independently verified. There was no immediate comment from the United States or France, which last month had put forward a proposal for a 21-day pause in the fighting.
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