United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that any attacks against the UN peacekeepers “may constitute a war crime”, his spokesperson said after Israeli tanks burst through the gates of a peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon.
“UNIFIL peacekeepers remain in all positions and the UN flag continues to fly,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“The Secretary-General reiterates that UNIFIL personnel and its premises must never be targeted. Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law, including international humanitarian law. They may constitute a war crime,” he added.
Dujarric added that UNIFIL personnel and its premises must never be targeted.
He urged all parties, including the Israeli military to refrain from any action that put UN peacekeepers at risk.
UNIFIL announced Israel had “deliberately” fired shots at its headquarters in the town of Naqoura in recent days.
At least five peacekeepers have been wounded in recent days in southern Lebanon. The UN chief strongly condemns attacks on peacekeepers in southern Lebanon as a violation of international law and a war crime.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on Guterres to relocate peacekeepers from southern Lebanon.
Earlier on Sunday, 40 countries contributing to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon demanded an immediate halt to Israel’s attacks on peacekeepers.
“Such actions must stop immediately and should be adequately investigated,” said the countries in a joint statement posted on X by the Polish UN mission on Sunday.
The contributing nations reaffirm their “full support for UNIFIL’s mission and activities, whose principal aim is to bring stabilization and lasting peace in South Lebanon and the Middle East”.
UNIFIL is tasked with monitoring a ceasefire that ended a 33-day war in 2006 between Israel and Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah. It was first established as an interim force in 1978 to confirm Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.
The mission now involves about 9,500 troops of some 50 nationalities.
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