The Israeli military opened fire on UN peacekeepers and their facilities this week as part of its ground invasion of southern Lebanon, the latest example of Israel targeting UN workers amid its genocide.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported that Israeli forces fired at peacekeepers in three attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, as Israel’s recent escalation causes “widespread destruction” of southern Lebanon.
One of the attacks, in which an Israeli tank fired at an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters, caused two peacekeepers to fall and sustain injuries. “The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital,” the group said. The group’s headquarters have been repeatedly attacked, UNIFIL said.
Israeli forces also fired on the entrance to a bunker sheltering peacekeepers in Naqoura. Prior to the attack, Israeli forces had deliberately destroyed cameras in the area.
Further, Israeli forces fired on another UN position in Ras Naqoura, at a site where UN, Lebanese and Israeli officials had regularly met before Israel’s current genocide in Gaza and fighting with Hezbollah began.
The group warned that purposefully attacking UNIFIL peacekeepers is a “grave violation of international humanitarian law.” As Al Jazeera noted, UNIFIL facilities and equipment are very clearly marked with UN insignia.
UNIFIL is a group created by the UN Security Council in 1978 to prevent troops other than those of the Lebanese army from entering the region of south Lebanon ranging from the southern border, known as the Blue Line, to the Litani River in the north. It was originally created to ensure that Israeli forces stay out of southern Lebanon and has been maintained through several Israeli invasions of Lebanon.
The group has roughly 10,000 peacekeepers, hailing from 50 different countries, as well as 800 civilian staff. Peacekeeper-contributing countries include ones that provide weapons to Israel, like the U.K. and Germany.
Despite this, Israeli forces have been threatening to attack UNIFIL peacekeepers, and in recent days told Irish peacekeepers to evacuate their posts. The group has refused the order to abandon the villages they’re tasked with defending, and Irish President Michael D. Higgins called the order “outrageous.”
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto has summoned the Israeli ambassador to Italy over this week’s attacks, with the minister saying that they may constitute war crimes. Two of the attacks hit bases used by Italian UNIFIL peacekeepers. French authorities have also denounced the attacks.
The attacks have been condemned as yet another escalation in Israel’s assault on Lebanon, which has forcibly displaced 1.2 million people and killed over 2,100 people, with most deaths coming in recent weeks.
“There are no lines that Israel is not ready to cross,” said UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese. “As it intensifies its extermination campaign against Palestinians in Gaza, it has also begun targeting UN peacekeepers, even those from nations that supply it with arms. Will the West eventually reconsider its support?”
“Another line has been dangerously crossed in Lebanon: IDF shelling of UN peacekeepers whose positions are known. We condemn this inadmissible act, for which there is no justification,” said European Union foreign policy head Josep Borrell. “Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of International Humanitarian Law and of the UNSC Resolution 1701: Israel has an obligation to respect both. Full accountability is needed.”