At least five peacekeepers injured in Lebanon where Israel intensifies its strikes

Five peacekeepers were injured and three others killed on Thursday by an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, where Israel is stepping up strikes against strongholds of Hezbollah, a Hamas ally in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

< p>In this context, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken intends to continue working to end hostilities in Gaza and Lebanon, until the new American administration takes office, indicated the State Department, the day after the victory of Donald Trump who spoke on the phone on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Since September 23, Israel has been leading a campaign of intense strikes in Lebanon, and since September 30 a ground offensive in the south of the country, claiming to want to neutralize Hezbollah to allow the return home of 60,000 inhabitants of northern Israel, displaced by incessant rocket fire since the start of the war in Gaza.

On Thursday, an Israeli strike that “targeted a car” at the entrance to Saida, the large city in southern Lebanon located about forty kilometers from Beirut, “caused the death of three passengers,” the Lebanese army said.

It occurred “as a convoy of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was passing an army checkpoint” that controls the northern entrance to Saida, it said, reporting three Lebanese soldiers injured.

Five peacekeepers were “slightly injured,” according to UNIFIL, which has been deployed in southern Lebanon since 1978 to act as a buffer against Israel. Malaysia said the soldiers were Malaysians and that six in total were injured in the blast.

Israel did not immediately comment when contacted by AFP.

This is not the first time that UNIFIL members have been the victims of gunfire attributed to Israel since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Rescue workers and Lebanese army soldiers gather at the site of a strike at the northern entrance to the southern city of Sidon, on November 7, 2024 © AFP – Mahmoud ZAYYAT

“This attack reflects Israel's persistence in targeting UNIFIL forces, Lebanese army personnel and civilians, which constitute war crimes and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

On its southern border, the Israeli army is continuing its war against Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip, which is in the grip of a humanitarian disaster.

– “Duty” –

“We will continue to work for an end to the war in Gaza, an end to the war in Lebanon, an increase in humanitarian aid (to Gaza), and it is our duty to continue these policies until noon on January 20, when the president-elect takes office,” the ministry's spokesman told reporters. of State, Matthew Miller.

Northern Israel and southern Lebanon © AFP – Jean-Michel CORNU, Cléa PECULIER

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Mr. Blinken had reminded Israel on Monday of the American demands for an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza, failing which the United States could rebalance its military support for its ally.

Meanwhile, heavy Israeli strikes targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut, including one that caused “minor damage” to buildings at the capital's international airport “but not to the terminal,” according to an airport official. Air traffic was not disrupted.

The Israeli army also continued its strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon, where it said it had killed about sixty fighters in several raids in the thousand-year-old city of Baalbeck and north of the Litani River, located about thirty kilometers from the border.

The pro-Iranian Hezbollah said on Thursday that it had ambushed Israeli ground forces that were trying to advance toward the border town of Yaroun in southern Lebanon.

A UNESCO committee will meet on November 18 to discuss “reinforced interim protection” for Lebanese historical sites threatened by Israeli strikes, the UN organization said on Thursday.

The UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said for its part that “the strikes” and Israeli calls for evacuation “were worsening the humanitarian crisis and leaving the population in a state of constant fear.”

This photo taken during a media tour organized by Hezbollah's press office shows a man standing amid destruction at the site of strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut on November 7, 2024 © AFP – –

According to Ocha, the Israeli army issued calls for evacuations for more than 160 Lebanese villages between September 23 and November 4.

More than 2,600 people have been killed in Lebanon since September 23, the majority of them civilians, according to Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad.

– “Intolerable” –

A Palestinian man helps a woman injured by a strike in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on November 7, 2024 © AFP – –

In the Gaza Strip, the Civil Defense reported that at least 12 people were killed Thursday in an Israeli strike on a school converted into a shelter for displaced families near Gaza City (north).

The Israeli army has once again called on residents of several areas of Gaza City to evacuate “dangerous combat zones” after rocket fire toward Israel.

“The situation in Gaza is (…) unbearable, intolerable,” Arwa Jalal, a Palestinian from Jabalia (north), deplored to AFPTV.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israeli soil that resulted in the death of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or killed in captivity.

Children look at the damage caused by a strike in the central Gaza Strip, November 7, 2024 © AFP – Eyad BABA

That day, 251 people were kidnapped. In total, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the army.

The Israeli offensive launched in retaliation in the Gaza Strip has left 43,469 dead, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.

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