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Tag: peacekeepers

  • France responsible for UNIFIL decision to shoot down Israeli drone in southern Lebanon

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    France was responsible for deciding to shoot down an Israeli drone in Kafr Kila on Sunday, a diplomatic source told Le Figaro. The outlet also reported that the UNIFIL peacekeepers were French.

    France was responsible for the decision to shoot down an Israeli drone in Kafr Kila, southern Lebanon, on Sunday, a diplomatic source told French outlet Le Figaro on Monday.

    The UNIFIL peacekeepers involved in the incident were from the French military, Le Figaro noted, while commenting that it is rare for peacekeepers to shoot down an Israeli drone.

    The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) claimed that the Israeli drone came close to a UNIFIL patrol and “dropped a grenade,” followed by an Israeli tank which “fired a shot” towards UNIFIL peacekeepers.

    UNIFIL also claimed that this followed a similar incident earlier on Sunday in the same location where “an Israeli drone flew over the UNIFIL patrol in an aggressive manner.”

    A UN vehicle drives, during a Reuters’ visit at Camp Shamrock where Irish and Polish peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are stationed near Maroun al-Ras village close to the Lebanese-Israeli border, in southern Lebanon November 29, 2023. (credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)

    UNIFIL asserted that the events violated UN Security Council Resolution 1701, as well as Lebanon’s sovereignty.

    IDF disputes UNIFIL’s report of events

    However, the IDF disputed this report of events.

    IDF Arabic Spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee clarified that the original drone was shot down during a routine information-gathering and reconnaissance mission.

    “Preliminary investigations revealed that UNIFIL forces, which were present near the location, deliberately fired at the drone despite it posing no threat to them,” Adraee explained.

    “After the drone was shot down, IDF soldiers threw a hand grenade at the area where the drone was downed,” he added, while confirming that no fire was directed towards UNIFIL peacekeepers, and that the incident will be investigated via military liaison channels.

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  • Heavy Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza as UN peacekeepers in Lebanon are hit again

    Heavy Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza as UN peacekeepers in Lebanon are hit again

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    Palestinians in northern Gaza described heavy Israeli bombardment Saturday in the hours after airstrikes killed at least 22 people, as Israel warned people there and in southern Lebanon to get out of the way of offensives against the Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups.In Lebanon, the U.N. peacekeeping force said its headquarters in Naqoura was hit again, with a peacekeeper struck by gunfire late Friday and in stable condition. It wasn’t clear who fired. It occurred a day after Israel’s military fired on the headquarters for a second straight day. Israel, which has warned peacekeepers to leave their positions, didn’t immediately respond to questions.Hunger warnings emerged again in northern Gaza as residents said they hadn’t received aid since the beginning of the month. The U.N. World Food Program said no food aid had entered the north since Oct. 1. An estimated 400,000 people remain there.Israel’s military renewed its offensive in northern Gaza almost a week ago while escalating its air and ground campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Amid Israel’s war with Hezbollah, a top U.N. official, Carl Skau, told The Associated Press he’s concerned that Lebanon’s ports and airport might be taken out of service. More than 1 million people have been displaced.Israel’s military said Hezbollah fired more than 300 projectiles over Yom Kippur, the holiest and most solemn day on the Jewish calendar. The military also said it killed 50 militants in Lebanon. Claims on either side couldn’t be verified.Israeli airstrikes on Saturday hit multiple areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Nine were killed in Maisra village in the northeast. Four were killed in an apartment building on the edge of Barja south of Beirut. Rayak and Tal Chiha hospitals in the Bekaa Valley were damaged. In Nabatieh, eight people were wounded.The total toll in Lebanon over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is now 2,255 killed, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. More than 1,400 people have been killed since mid-September. It isn’t clear how many were fighters.“We will keep standing with the Lebanese people during these difficult circumstances and also with the Palestinian people,” the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Saturday while touring the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.Some Gaza residents are trappedIn northern Gaza, residents told the AP many were trapped in their homes and shelters with dwindling supplies while seeing bodies uncollected in the streets as the bombing hampered emergency responders.Those who rushed to the scene of the latest deadly airstrikes in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya found a hole 20 meters (65 feet) deep where a home once stood.At least 20 bodies were recovered while others likely were under rubble, emergency service officials said.Elsewhere in Jabaliya, a strike on a home killed two brothers and wounded a woman and newborn baby, the officials said. An afternoon strike on a home killed at least four people, including a woman, said Fares Abu Hamza, an official with the emergency service.Israel’s military said it killed more than 20 militants in the Jabaliya area over the past day.Military spokesperson Avichay Adraee told people in parts of Jabaliya and Gaza City to evacuate south to an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone as Israel plans to use great force “and will continue to do so for a long time.”Israel has repeatedly returned to parts of Gaza as Hamas and other militants regroup. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.Once again, some families moved south on foot, in donkey carts or crowded in vehicles that navigated piles of rubble. Others refused to go.“It’s like the first days of the war,” said a Jabaliya resident, Ahmed Abu Goneim. “The occupation is doing everything to uproot us. But we will not leave.”The 24-year-old said Israeli warplanes and drones struck many neighboring houses in the past week. He counted 15 relatives and neighbors, including four women and five children as young as 3, killed in neighboring homes. He said that there were dead in the streets.Hamza Sharif, who stays with his family in a school-turned-shelter in Jabaliya, described “constant bombings day and night.”He said the shelter hasn’t received aid since the beginning of the month and that families “will run out of supplies very soon.”Food is running outThe World Food Program said it was unclear how long the limited food supplies it distributed in northern Gaza earlier will last.The U.N.’s independent investigator on the right to food last month accused Israel of carrying out a “starvation campaign” against Palestinians, which Israel has denied.Israel’s offensive in Gaza started after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, when militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others.Israel’s offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who don’t specify between combatants and civilians. Gaza’s Health Ministry said that hospitals had received the bodies of 49 people killed over the past 24 hours.___Samy Magdy reported from Cairo. Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem, and Sam Metz in Rabat, Morocco, contributed to this report.

    Palestinians in northern Gaza described heavy Israeli bombardment Saturday in the hours after airstrikes killed at least 22 people, as Israel warned people there and in southern Lebanon to get out of the way of offensives against the Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups.

    In Lebanon, the U.N. peacekeeping force said its headquarters in Naqoura was hit again, with a peacekeeper struck by gunfire late Friday and in stable condition. It wasn’t clear who fired. It occurred a day after Israel’s military fired on the headquarters for a second straight day. Israel, which has warned peacekeepers to leave their positions, didn’t immediately respond to questions.

    Hunger warnings emerged again in northern Gaza as residents said they hadn’t received aid since the beginning of the month. The U.N. World Food Program said no food aid had entered the north since Oct. 1. An estimated 400,000 people remain there.

    Israel’s military renewed its offensive in northern Gaza almost a week ago while escalating its air and ground campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Amid Israel’s war with Hezbollah, a top U.N. official, Carl Skau, told The Associated Press he’s concerned that Lebanon’s ports and airport might be taken out of service. More than 1 million people have been displaced.

    Israel’s military said Hezbollah fired more than 300 projectiles over Yom Kippur, the holiest and most solemn day on the Jewish calendar. The military also said it killed 50 militants in Lebanon. Claims on either side couldn’t be verified.

    Israeli airstrikes on Saturday hit multiple areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Nine were killed in Maisra village in the northeast. Four were killed in an apartment building on the edge of Barja south of Beirut. Rayak and Tal Chiha hospitals in the Bekaa Valley were damaged. In Nabatieh, eight people were wounded.

    The total toll in Lebanon over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is now 2,255 killed, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. More than 1,400 people have been killed since mid-September. It isn’t clear how many were fighters.

    “We will keep standing with the Lebanese people during these difficult circumstances and also with the Palestinian people,” the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Saturday while touring the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.

    Some Gaza residents are trapped

    In northern Gaza, residents told the AP many were trapped in their homes and shelters with dwindling supplies while seeing bodies uncollected in the streets as the bombing hampered emergency responders.

    Those who rushed to the scene of the latest deadly airstrikes in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya found a hole 20 meters (65 feet) deep where a home once stood.

    At least 20 bodies were recovered while others likely were under rubble, emergency service officials said.

    Elsewhere in Jabaliya, a strike on a home killed two brothers and wounded a woman and newborn baby, the officials said. An afternoon strike on a home killed at least four people, including a woman, said Fares Abu Hamza, an official with the emergency service.

    Israel’s military said it killed more than 20 militants in the Jabaliya area over the past day.

    Military spokesperson Avichay Adraee told people in parts of Jabaliya and Gaza City to evacuate south to an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone as Israel plans to use great force “and will continue to do so for a long time.”

    Israel has repeatedly returned to parts of Gaza as Hamas and other militants regroup. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

    Once again, some families moved south on foot, in donkey carts or crowded in vehicles that navigated piles of rubble. Others refused to go.

    “It’s like the first days of the war,” said a Jabaliya resident, Ahmed Abu Goneim. “The occupation is doing everything to uproot us. But we will not leave.”

    The 24-year-old said Israeli warplanes and drones struck many neighboring houses in the past week. He counted 15 relatives and neighbors, including four women and five children as young as 3, killed in neighboring homes. He said that there were dead in the streets.

    Hamza Sharif, who stays with his family in a school-turned-shelter in Jabaliya, described “constant bombings day and night.”

    He said the shelter hasn’t received aid since the beginning of the month and that families “will run out of supplies very soon.”

    Food is running out

    The World Food Program said it was unclear how long the limited food supplies it distributed in northern Gaza earlier will last.

    The U.N.’s independent investigator on the right to food last month accused Israel of carrying out a “starvation campaign” against Palestinians, which Israel has denied.

    Israel’s offensive in Gaza started after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, when militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others.

    Israel’s offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who don’t specify between combatants and civilians. Gaza’s Health Ministry said that hospitals had received the bodies of 49 people killed over the past 24 hours.

    ___

    Samy Magdy reported from Cairo. Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem, and Sam Metz in Rabat, Morocco, contributed to this report.

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  • 2 Lebanese soldiers killed and 3 others hurt in airstrike, Lebanese army says

    2 Lebanese soldiers killed and 3 others hurt in airstrike, Lebanese army says

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    You have to walk carefully through the rubble. All that remains of three buildings entire demolished by Israeli bombs. Neighbors say the bombing killed at least five people including women and Children. The Arabic spokesman for the Israeli military will occasionally over Twitter or X put out evacuation orders for specific buildings in Beirut before they’re struck here in tire. There have been no warnings for 35 years. Baha has run *** small clothing shop next door. Now in shambles, history is repeating itself. She says *** three story building fell over our heads during the 1982 Israeli invasion. This ancient city is just 12 miles or 19 kilometers from the border with Israel. Most of the residents have fled north. Those who stayed behind live under constant threat. It was terrifying the missile hit and it collapsed. Says 70 year old Meqdad describing another Israeli strike that destroyed multiple homes in Tire’s old city for more than half *** century. Every generation has destruction and death. We’re used to. It says Med’s neighbor Yusuf, we’re used to wars. We’ve seen wars going back to the days of the Phoenicians tire has looked to the sea. Now *** forbidden zone. Israel has warned people to stay off the beaches and fishermen not to take their boats out. So in Ty’s Port Abu Ibrahim sits and smokes his water pipe. We go to sea so we can eat. He tells me now we can’t. How can we eat? An old man deprived of his Ben Wedeman CNN Tire. Southern Lebanon.

    Two Lebanese soldiers were killed and three others wounded in an Israeli airstrike that hit a building near a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Kafra, Bint Jbeil province, the Lebanese Army said Friday.Since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon, Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have clashed along the border while the Lebanese army has largely stood on the sidelines.As Israeli troops made their first forays across the border and Hezbollah responded with rocket fire, Lebanese soldiers withdrew from observation posts along the frontier and repositioned about 3 miles back.On Oct. 3, a Lebanese soldier was killed and another injured in an Israeli strike in Taybeh during rescue operations. On Sept. 30, another Lebanese soldier was killed by an Israeli drone targeting a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Wazzani.Video below: President Biden discusses U.S. efforts to prevent wider war in Middle East as U.S. helps Americans leave Lebanon

    Two Lebanese soldiers were killed and three others wounded in an Israeli airstrike that hit a building near a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Kafra, Bint Jbeil province, the Lebanese Army said Friday.

    Since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon, Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have clashed along the border while the Lebanese army has largely stood on the sidelines.

    As Israeli troops made their first forays across the border and Hezbollah responded with rocket fire, Lebanese soldiers withdrew from observation posts along the frontier and repositioned about 3 miles back.

    On Oct. 3, a Lebanese soldier was killed and another injured in an Israeli strike in Taybeh during rescue operations. On Sept. 30, another Lebanese soldier was killed by an Israeli drone targeting a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Wazzani.

    Video below: President Biden discusses U.S. efforts to prevent wider war in Middle East as U.S. helps Americans leave Lebanon

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