EU condemns Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers, airstrike in north Lebanon kills 21
Strike hits house rented to displaced families, mayor says
The European Union on Monday condemned attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon and rejected allegations that UN Secretary General António Guterres is responsible for obstructing the Israeli army.
Sixteen European Union countries contribute to the 10,000-strong United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, who have been patrolling the border area between Lebanon and Israel for nearly 50 years.
Israel is demanding that they leave the area.
UNIFIL said Israeli tanks forcibly entered the gates of one position early Sunday and destroyed the main gate. They later fired smoke rounds near peacekeepers, causing skin irritation. UNIFIL called the incident a "further flagrant violation of international law."
International criticism is growing after Israeli forces repeatedly fired on peacekeepers since the start of its ground operation in Lebanon two weeks ago. Five peacekeepers have been wounded in attacks that struck their positions in recent days, with most of them blamed on Israeli forces.
'It's completely unacceptable'
Relations had already worsened between Israel and the United Nations over the way Israel has conducted its fighting against Hamas in Gaza.
Israel launched the offensive against Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel in Gaza in which 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Over 42,000 Palestinians have been reported killed in the offensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
In an unprecedented move, Israel earlier this month said the UN secretary general was persona non grata in Israel.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said UNIFIL's "work is very important. It's completely unacceptable attacking United Nations troops."
Speaking in Luxembourg before chairing talks between EU foreign ministers, Borrell underlined that the UN Security Council decides whether UNIFIL should be moved, "so stop blaming secretary Guterres."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday rejected accusations that Israeli troops had deliberately targeted UNIFIL peacekeepers in Lebanon as "completely false" and repeated a call for them to be withdrawn from combat zones.
He said the military did its utmost to avoid harming UNIFIL personnel, while striking Hezbollah fighters. "But the best way to assure the safety of UNIFIL personnel is for UNIFIL to heed Israel's request and to temporarily get out of harm's way."
On Sunday, Netanyahu had called for UNIFIL to heed Israel's warnings to evacuate the area, accusing them of "providing a human shield" to Hezbollah.
In a video addressed to Guterres, who has been banned from entering Israel, Netanyahu told the UN chief "to get [UNIFIL] out of the danger zone."
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, whose country is one of Europe's strongest backers of Israel, said the attacks are "simply unacceptable" and UNIFIL will not be leaving.
"No, they will not withdraw. Yes, they will continue to fulfil the mandate. And yes, we demand on each and every party to respect this mandate, and respect the security and safety of our blue helmets," he told reporters.
Ireland accuses Israel of working to undermine UN
Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin is accusing Israel of trying to prevent the world from seeing what its troops are doing in Lebanon and Gaza, and of working to undermine the United Nations.
Asked what Israel's aim might be in demanding that UNIFIL peacekeepers leave their bases, Martin said "essentially to drive the eyes and ears out of south Lebanon and to give itself free rein."
"We cannot have an undermining and a chipping away of the status or the credibility or structures of the United Nations, and particularly its peacekeeping forces," Martin said in Luxembourg, where EU foreign ministers are meeting.
"We see what's happening in northern Gaza, for example, in terms of the necessity of eyes and ears on the ground. The world has really no full picture of what's happening in Gaza," he told reporters.
"Israel is essentially now undermining [not only] the United Nations and the United Nations peacekeeping force, but the very rules-based international order, and it needs to step back."
Martin called on his EU counterparts "to stand up now on the side of what's right and proper and moral in terms of humanity."
A spokesperson for Germany's Foreign Office told reporters in Berlin on Monday that "all parties to the conflict, including the Israeli army, are obliged to direct their combat operations exclusively against military targets of the other party to the conflict." Sebastian Fischer said a comprehensive investigation is expected and talks on the matter were being held with the Israeli side.
Israel strikes northern Lebanon
Israel expanded its targets in its war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Monday, killing at least 21 people in an airstrike in the north, health officials said.
The strike in the Christian-majority town of Aitou hit a house that had been rented to displaced families, the town's mayor Joseph Trad told Reuters. In addition to the deaths, eight people were injured, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Rescue workers at the site of the strike searched through piles of rubble on Monday. Burned vehicles and trees could be seen strewn across the ground.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah resumed a year ago when the militant group began firing rockets at Israel in support of Palestinian militants Hamas at the start of the Gaza war. It has escalated sharply in recent weeks.
So far the main focus of Israel's military operations in Lebanon has been in the south, the Bekaa Valley in the east and the suburbs of Beirut.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 2,309 people in Lebanon over the last year, the Lebanese government said in its daily update. The majority have been killed since late September, when Israel expanded its military campaign. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Israel says its operations in Lebanon are aimed at securing the return of tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes in northern Israel.
With files from Reuters