UN says Israeli tanks burst through gates of peacekeeper base in Lebanon

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Written by Super User

Category: MENA

Published: 13 October 2024

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NEW YORK - The United Nations has said Israeli tanks burst through the gates of a base of its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the UN to evacuate peacekeepers from “danger zones” immediately.The UNIFIL peacekeeping force reported what it described as additional Israeli violations, including two Israeli Merkava tanks destroying the main gate of a base and forcibly entering before dawn that morning.

Soon after the tanks left, shells exploded 100 metres away, releasing smoke which blew across the base and sickened UN personnel, causing 15 to require treatment despite wearing gas masks, it said. It did not say who fired the shells or what sort of toxic substance it suspected.

It also accused Israel's IDF military of halting a logistics convoy. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to the statement.

"Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Resolution 1701," the UN force said. "UNIFIL's mandate provides for its freedom of movement in its area of operations, and any restriction on this is a violation of Resolution 1701. We have requested an explanation from the IDF from these shocking violations."

Mr Netanyahu said on Sunday that the Israeli military had asked the United Nations (UN) to evacuate the soldiers repeatedly, adding that their presence in the area made them hostages of Hezbollah.

A series of strikes have hit peacekeeping positions and personnel in recent days, most of them blamed by the UN’s UNIFIL peacekeeping force on Israeli forces, drawing condemnation from the UN and several foreign nations. A total of five peacekeepers have been wounded.

In a direct appeal to the UN's Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Mr Netanyahu added: "The simple and obvious way to ensure this is simply to get them out of the danger zone.

"Mr secretary general, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm's way. It should be done right now, immediately."

Meanwhile, Hezbollah denies Israel's accusation that it treats the peacekeepers as hostages and says Israel wants them to leave so they cannot serve as a check on the Israeli cross-border campaign.

In response Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned Mr Netanyahu that attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon are unacceptable, her office said on Sunday afternoon.

"Prime Minister Meloni reiterated the unacceptability of UNIFIL being attacked by Israeli armed forces," the Italian government said in a statement.

Italy is a significant contributor to the UN mission known as UNIFIL.

In a phone conversation with Mr Netanyahu, Ms Meloni also called for the "full implementation" of the UN's Security Council Resolution 1701 on Lebanon and stressed the urgent need for a de-escalation of conflict in the region, her office said.

Mr Netanyahu later added he had told the Italian Prime Minister that he regrets "any harm done to UNIFIL personnel" in Lebanon.

"Israel will make every effort to prevent UNIFIL casualties and will do what it takes to win the war," Mr Netanyahu said on X.

US officials believe Israel has narrowed down targets in its potential response to Iran's attack this month to military and energy infrastructure, according to reports.

The Middle East remains on high alert for further escalation as the conflict intensifies between Israel and Iran-backed groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

Tehran, a major oil producer, has threatened Israel with severe consequences if the Islamic Republic is attacked.

Israel has repeatedly said it will respond to Iran's missile barrage on October 1, which was launched in retaliation for Israel's military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and the killings of a string of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.

There is no indication that Israel will target nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations, the NBC report said, citing unnamed US officials and adding that Israel has not made final decisions about how and when to act.

US and Israeli officials said a response could come during the current Yom Kippur holiday, according to the report. Israeli officials have not publicly commented on the report.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants erupted a year ago when Hezbollah began launching rockets at northern Israel at the start of the Gaza war, and has sharply escalated in recent weeks.Israel's military said it continues to operate in southern Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure.

"Over the past day, the IAF (air force) has struck approximately 200 Hezbollah targets deep in Lebanon and southern Lebanon, including terrorist cells, launchers, anti-tank missile posts, and terrorist infrastructure sites," it said.

Israel also said five launches that crossed from Lebanon were intercepted by the air force.

The Israeli military added in a statement on Sunday that one of its reservists and an officer were severely injured in two separate incidents during combat in southern Lebanon, with additional soldiers suffering light to moderate injuries.

The Israeli military also said that it captured a Hezbollah militant in southern Lebanon after discovering an underground tunnel leading to a hideout, where they found an area with weapons and supplies for extended use.

Hezbollah announced a rocket strike on the Tirat HaCarmel transport base in southern Haifa, in a statement on Sunday.

Gaza food aid levels at ‘breaking point’

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Written by Super User

Category: MENA

Published: 13 October 2024

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ROME - Aid entering the Gaza Strip is at its lowest level in months, and both the north and south of the enclave are at "breaking point", UN humanitarians said on Friday.

Critical aid lifelines into northern Gaza have been cut off, and no food aid has entered there since 1 October, said UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, citing information from the World Food Progamme (WFP).

The main crossings into the north have been closed and will be inaccessible if the current escalation continues, he added.

WFP distributed its last remaining food stocks in the north to partners and kitchens sheltering newly displaced families, but these are barely enough to last two weeks.

Many of the locations were either forced to shut down, and others are at risk of shutting down if the conflict continues at this scale.

'At breaking point'

Mr. Haq said the situation in the south is also "at breaking point". No food distributions are taking place, while bakeries are struggling to secure wheat flour, putting them at risk of shutting down any day.

“Aid entering Gaza is at its lowest level in months. No one has received food parcels in this month due to constrained access of aid supplies,” he said.

Despite the challenges, humanitarians are responding as best they can. The UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, and partners are distributing bread, ready-to-eat or cooked meals, and flour, in and beyond designated shelters.

On Thursday, an assessment team from the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, visited the school-turned-shelter of Al Rufaida, in Deir al Balah, where an Israeli airstrike had killed multiple people.

They noted the destruction or damage to three classrooms, 20 tents, five bathrooms, three water tanks, and the belongings of more than 60 families.

Families forced to flee

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said sudden displacement orders in the north are once again affecting tens of thousands of vulnerable boys and girls. OCHA warned that most displacement is now occurring in the north, where no tents are available to support families that have been newly uprooted.

The latest developments in North Gaza governorate have forced the suspension of protection services, the closure of malnutrition treatment services, and the shutting down of five temporary learning spaces, affecting hundreds of children, while the Kamal Adwan Hospital is seeing an influx of trauma injuries.

Polio vaccination concern

UN humanitarians have continued to warn that the situation for civilians is getting worse as the Israeli military renews its push into the north, where some 400,000 people face evacuation orders.

“Over the last week, the Israeli military has intensified operations in north Gaza, further severing the area from the rest of the Gaza Strip and risking afresh the lives of civilians in the areas,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, OHCHR.

“Intense strikes, shelling, quadcopter shootings and ground incursions have occurred over the past days, hitting residential buildings and groups of people, causing numerous casualties and once again, mass displacement of Palestinians in the area.”

As UN aid agencies and partners prepare to roll out the second phase of the mass polio vaccination campaign next week, the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, underscored the impact of a chronic lack of humanitarian access to the enclave and, in particular, the north.

“Many of the hospitals in the north are running out of fuel. Most of the UN and humanitarian missions are not happening to the north. They’re running out of a a few specific medical supplies and we are one year in this crisis,” Dr Peeperkorn said, as he confirmed that three relief missions north of Wadi Gaza had not made it this week. “So, we request again…that these humanitarian missions to the north, wherever, to the south, they need to happen.”

Israel attacks UNIFIL posts in south Lebanon, again

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Written by Super User

Category: MENA

Published: 11 October 2024

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BEIRUT - Israel has carried out a second attack on UNIFIL peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, hours after it targeted two Beirut neighbourhoods killing 22 people.

Israeli forces carried out a second attack on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Friday, injuring personnel from a Sri Lankan peacekeepers base in the area.

Lebanon's foreign ministry said the bombing targeted "watchtowers and the main UNIFIL base in Ras Naqoura" which led to "a number of wounded".

The Israeli military also "fired an artillery shell, targeting the main entrance of the UNIFIL command centre, leading to damage to the entrance", the Lebanese National News Agency reported.

It comes after another attack on another UNIFIL force on Thursday, which injured at least two Indonesian peacekeepers.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for a probe into the separate attacks, urging the UN to "urgently establish" an international investigation into the incidents.

In New York on Thursday, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Israel "recommends UNIFIL relocate 5 km (3 miles) north to avoid danger as fighting intensifies", in a statement, which appeared to confirm the Israeli military's targeting of the UN peacekeepers.

In Beirut, residents are still reeling from Israel’s raids on the Lebanese capital on Thursday night, which killed at least 22 people and injured over 100.

The attacks on the neighbourhoods of Basta and Ras al-Nabaa were the third time Israel attacked Beirut proper since it began its intensified aggression on the country, in late September.

Israel launched the strikes without prior evacuation notices as areas not targeted were given warning of an impending attack, causing confusion in the capital.

Israeli media claimed the military targeted the head of Hezbollah's Liaison and Coordination Unit, Wafiq Safa, but is yet to release a statement regarding his fate. A source close to Hezbollah confirmed to media that Safa was the target.

Lebanese outlet L'Orient Le Jour said the neighbourhoods were full of rubble, burned-out cars with everything "covered in dust".

Also on Friday, the Iranian Red Cross said earlier that Israel had struck a field hospital located on the Syrian-Lebanese border, amid Israel's increasingly aggressive approach to countries in the region.

In northern Israel, a 27-year-old Thai national was killed by rocket fire launched from Lebanon, while two others were reportedly wounded, the Magen David Adom said.

Israel's escalation and subsequent invasion of Lebanon has killed over 1,200 people and has gone on to displace over 1.2 million. Multiple calls for a ceasefire have yet to be accepted by Israel.