Key points
- Israeli tanks storm through the gates of a peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon, the UN said.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN Secretary General to “withdraw UNIFIL from the combat zones.”
- Hezbollah said it attacked a camp of the Israeli army’s Golani Brigade in Binyamina, wounding 67.
Australia has told Israel that targeting UN personnel in Lebanon is “unacceptable” while condemning Hezbollah drone strikes on Israeli targets.
The UN said Israeli tanks stormed through the gates of a peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon on Sunday morning (local time).
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said two Israeli Merkava tanks destroyed the main gate of a base and entered by force before dawn on Sunday.
After the tanks left, shells exploded 100 meters away, releasing smoke that blew over the base, UNIFIL said.
The Israeli military said Hezbollah militants fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli troops, wounding 25 of them.
The attack took place very close to a UNIFIL post and a tank that helped evacuate victims under fire then withdrew to the UNIFIL post, the report said.
“It’s not storming a base. It’s not trying to enter a base. It was a tank under heavy fire, a high-casualty event, reversing to get out of harm’s way,” the Israeli army’s international spokesman said , Nadav Shoshani, to reporters.
Hezbollah said on Sunday it attacked a camp of the Israeli army’s Golani Brigade in Binyamina in northern Israel with a “swarm of drones”.
According to the army, four Israeli soldiers were killed and another seven seriously injured.
In a statement on Monday, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade condemned Hezbollah’s “recent drone attacks” on Israel.
The spokesperson also said the department “has made it clear to Israel that any form of attacks or intimidation against UN personnel and facilities in Lebanon is unacceptable and must stop.”
“We continue to call for a ceasefire and for all parties to show restraint, de-escalate and adhere to UN Security Council resolutions,” the statement said.
Netanyahu asks UN to ‘withdraw UNIFIL from combat zones’
UNIFIL said any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement addressed to UN Secretary General António Guterres: “The time has come for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones.”
Hezbollah, which Israel has been battling in southern Lebanon since it launched a ground invasion early this month, denies Israel’s accusation that it uses its proximity to peacekeepers for protection.
UNIFIL peacekeepers “remain in all positions,” U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement, repeating the secretary-general’s warning that peacekeepers should not be targeted.
“Attacks against peacekeepers violate international law, including international humanitarian law. They could constitute a war crime,” Dujarric said.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, typically one of Israel’s most outspoken supporters among Western European leaders, spoke by phone with Netanyahu on Sunday and denounced the “unacceptable” Israeli attacks, her government said.
Netanyahu said he told Meloni he regretted any harm to UNIFIL personnel in Lebanon.
Italy has more than a thousand troops in the 10,000-strong UNIFIL force, making it one of the largest personnel contributors.
France and Spain, which each have nearly 700 soldiers in their armed forces, .
Israel’s offensive in Lebanon over the past three weeks has uprooted 1.2 million Lebanese and dealt an unprecedented blow to the group by killing .
The Lebanese government says more than 2,100 people have been killed and 10,000 injured in more than a year of fighting, especially in recent weeks.
Israeli attacks on Gaza are increasing
Israel’s military operations in northern Gaza have also stepped up, with Palestinian authorities saying hundreds of people have been killed in the past 10 days.
On Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed three people and injured 40 others when several tents of displaced Palestinians hit Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza Strip city of Deir Al-Balah, where a million people were sheltering, medics said.
On Sunday, Israeli tank shelling killed at least 22 Palestinians at a school housing displaced families in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, doctors said.
Hours earlier, an Israeli airstrike killed five children in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.
Palestinian official news agency WAFA and Hamas Media said the children were playing near a cafe when they were killed by a missile fired from an Israeli drone.
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