The Israeli army has “repeatedly attacked” the headquarters of the blue helmets and its nearby positions in southern Lebanon in the last 24 hours, with a tank shot that injured two soldiers by knocking down an observation tower. In addition, Israeli soldiers have “deliberately” opened fire on the surveillance cameras on the perimeter of the position until they were rendered useless, as announced this Thursday by the mission, which has hundreds of Spanish soldiers. The Spanish Ministry of Defense has assured in a statement that all of them are fine. For his part, the Italian Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto, has urgently summoned the Israeli ambassador in Rome this Thursday.
The most serious incident took place this morning. Israeli forces fired a tank shell at one of the watchtowers at the main base in Naqurah, used to monitor compliance with the UN resolution that ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. The headquarters are in southwestern Lebanon, right next to the border line with Israel. It is precisely the area that Israeli troops entered this Tuesday, completing the invasion of the entire south of the country.
“Unifil Headquarters [la Fuerza Provisional de las Naciones Unidas para Líbano] in Naqura and nearby positions have been repeatedly attacked. This morning, two peacekeepers were injured after an Israel Defense Forces Merkava tank fired at an observation tower at the headquarters, directly hitting it and causing them to fall. Fortunately, this time the injuries are not serious, but they remain hospitalized,” the mission says in a statement.
The mission ―led by a Spanish lieutenant general, Aroldo Lázaro― reports two other incidents. One, against a position in Laboune, near the headquarters, “reaching the entrance of the bunker where the peacekeepers were taking refuge, and damaging vehicles and a communications system. An Israel Defense Forces drone was observed flying inside the United Nations position to the entrance of the bunker.” Furthermore, on Tuesday, Israeli Defense Forces soldiers “deliberately fired at the surveillance cameras on the perimeter of the position and rendered them useless.”
Tripartite meeting venue
Unifil denounces another “deliberate” attack, with shooting, against a position in Ras Naqura (on the Blue Line, which marks the unofficial dividing line between both countries) where “regular tripartite meetings were held before the conflict began, damaging the lighting and a relay station.”
“We remind the Israel Defense Forces and all actors of their obligation to ensure the security of United Nations personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of United Nations facilities at all times. Unifil peacekeepers are present in southern Lebanon to support the return to stability under the Security Council mandate [de la ONU]. Any deliberate attack against peacekeepers constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law and Security Council resolution 1701. “We are following up on these matters with the Israel Defense Forces,” he emphasizes.
The incidents have occurred in the western sector, where there are also some Spanish soldiers. The vast majority, however, are in the east, which Spain commands and whose base is named Miguel de Cervantes. Although with fewer soldiers than before, it is still the largest mission of blue helmets Spaniards in the world.
The eastern sector is where the bulk (1,200 soldiers) of the Italian contingent stationed in Lebanon is located. “Minister Guido Crosetto urgently summoned the Israeli ambassador to Italy in relation to the events that occurred at the Unifil bases where Italian personnel work,” sources from the Ministry of Defense of that country have stated. The meeting between Crosetto and ambassador Jonathan Peled “is still ongoing,” they added.
The mission, which has some 10,000 troops from 47 countries, had already been warning of the proximity of the activities of the Israeli army, “immediately adjacent” to one of its positions, in Marun al Ras, also in the western sector. Last Tuesday he already expressed his “deep concern” about this, after having “repeatedly informed his Israeli interlocutors of this situation” “through regular channels.”
Criticism by the Israeli military of the role of the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon is frequent, although their mandate does not include confronting the Shiite militia party or carrying out searches on their own. They consider that this international mission is a failure and that its members are partly responsible for Hezbollah having gained strength in southern Lebanon and not stopping launching attacks towards northern Israel during the current conflict. That is even one of the reasons on which the State bases the incursion of its troops into the neighboring country.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and those responsible for the Government and the Armed Forces have been insisting for weeks that the ground invasion undertaken on October 1 is intended to deactivate this threat and allow the approximately 60,000 residents around the border who They have been evacuated for months to return to their homes safely. A man and a woman who were walking their dog on Wednesday died after the impact of shrapnel from a projectile launched from Lebanon on Kiriat Shmona, a city in the border area that was evacuated and where barely 2,000 of its 20,000 residents remain.
Bombing on Gaza
Meanwhile, the rate of bombing does not decrease in intensity in the Gaza Strip, where the death toll exceeded 42,000 this Wednesday. Israel has killed at least 28 people, most of them women and minors, and injured fifty in a bombing this Thursday on a school that served as a shelter in Deir el Balah, according to data provided by the Red Crescent. The attacked area, in the center of the Palestinian enclave, is home to approximately one million people, most of them displaced from other points during the last year of fighting.
Israel usually attacks this type of infrastructure, in some cases managed by the United Nations, under the pretext, as this Thursday, that Hamas uses these buildings as weapons warehouses, command centers or projectile launch sites. “This is another example of the action of the terrorist organization Hamas with the systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law,” the army says in a statement.
Meanwhile, Israeli occupation troops continue their offensive in the north of the Strip, especially in the Jabalia refugee camp. There, some soldiers have had close combat with the Palestinian armed resistance, according to the army, which has shown some images of its men advancing house to house while shooting. They also claim to have intercepted the launch of a drone from the Strip towards Israeli territory.
In the face of growing tension, with the country pending the response to the Iranian attack last week, the Israeli army has reminded the population of the basic rules to keep in mind in the event of an attack and how to be permanently connected through from radio, computers or mobile phones. It’s about paying attention to the warnings to move to a safe place—almost always a shelter or safe room—as soon as possible. These recommendations come in days of a large number of trips, with many citizens traveling outside their places of habitual residence. Israel is on the verge of celebrating Yom Kippur Day, or Forgiveness Day, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar between Friday and Saturday, which closes at the beginning of the year 10 days ago.
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