UN force accuses Israel of shooting at its HQ in Lebanon, Italy considers these to be possible “war crimes”

An Israeli armored vehicle fired towards a tower of the international force headquarters in Naqoura, southern Lebanon.

Two peacekeepers were injured after an Israeli armored vehicle fired at an observation tower at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Naqoura, southern Lebanon, the international force announced in a press release, Thursday October 10. The victims were not seriously injured, the text specifies, but they had to be hospitalized. These are not French soldiers, franceinfo learned from a source close to the matter.

UNIFIL also accuses the Israeli army of having fired on one of its positions in Ras Naqoura, hitting “entering a bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communications system”. An IDF drone was observed flying over the UN position, according to this source, towards the entrance to the bunker.

These shots “could constitute war crimes”, accused Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto on Thursday evening. “The repeated hostile actions committed by Israeli forces against the UNIFIL base could constitute war crimes and certainly represent very serious violations of the norms of international humanitarian law”he declared at a press conference.

France also reacted and “waiting for explanations”according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “France expresses its strong concern following the Israeli fire which hit the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and condemns any attack on the security of UNIFIL.”we can also read in the press release.

“Yesterday, IDF soldiers deliberately disabled the position’s perimeter surveillance cameras.continues UNIFIL, drawing up a list of serious incidents in recent days. They also deliberately shot at the [camp] UNP 1-32A, where tripartite meetings were regularly held before the start of the conflict, damaging lighting and a relay station.”

UNIFIL, which has controlled the “blue line” set up between Israel and Lebanon since 2000, recalls that “any deliberate attack against peacekeepers” constitutes a “serious violation of international humanitarian law”. At this stage, the Israeli army has not yet reacted to these announcements.

A few days ago, UNIFIL, which has 10,400 soldiers from around fifty countries, said it “deeply concerned by the recent activities of the Israeli army in the immediate vicinity of one of its positions in Lebanon”, in Maroun al-Ras. The force had already had to stop its patrols due to the intensification of shooting and Israeli ground operations carried out by the Jewish state against Hezbollah, sometimes in the immediate vicinity of the Blue Helmets.

France and Italy will bring together the European countries contributing to UNIFIL after these shots, AFP learned from the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. This meeting by videoconference, decided during an interview between French Minister Sébastien Lecornu and his Italian counterpart Guido Crosetto, will be held next week on a date that remains to be specified. In addition to France and Italy, Spain and Ireland are the other European contributors to UNIFIL.