“Another line has been dangerously crossed in Lebanon,” he wrote on social media platform X.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her government had formally protested to Israeli authorities. Meloni said she received updates from the two Italian bases located in outposts that were hit by Israeli gunfire and praised the peacekeepers for their “valuable work”. Italy has about 1000 soldiers deployed as UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry also denounced the strikes as a “dangerous escalation” and “flagrant violation of international law”.
Israel’s military said in a statement its troops operated in the Naqoura area, “next to a UNIFIL base”.
“Accordingly, the IDF instructed the UN forces in the area to remain in protected spaces, following which the forces opened fire in the area,” Israel’s statement said, adding it maintains routine communication with UNIFIL.
In New York, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Israel recommends UNIFIL relocate 5 kilometres north “to avoid danger as fighting intensifies”.
Hezbollah said it had fired a missile salvo at Israeli forces on Thursday as they were trying to pull casualties out of the Ras al-Naqoura area, and they were directly hit.
The peacekeepers were determined to remain at their posts despite Israeli attacks and orders by Israel’s military to leave, the force’s spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said.
People gather in front of destroyed buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon.Credit: AP
At least 22 people were killed and 117 wounded in Israeli airstrikes that hit two areas in central Beirut, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
The strikes hit a densely packed residential neighbourhood of apartment buildings and small shops in the heart of Beirut. Israel had not previously struck the area, which is removed from Beirut’s southern suburbs where Hezbollah’s headquarters have been repeatedly bombed by Israel. The second strike in the area of Burj Abi Haidar, collapsed an entire building, which was engulfed in flames
Israel did not issue evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes, which were the deadliest attack on central Beirut since the beginning of the hostilities.
Among the dead was a family of eight, including three children, who had evacuated from the south, according to a security source.
People gather in front of destroyed buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon.Credit: AP
There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military, but a senior Hezbollah official eluded an Israeli assassination attempt in Beirut, three security sources told Reuters.
After the strikes, Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV reported that an attempt to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the militant group, had failed. It did not specify whether Safa had been inside one of the targeted buildings.
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Meanwhile, a strike on a school sheltering displaced people in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah also killed 27 people, including a child and seven women, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, to where the bodies were taken. It said several other people were wounded.
The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike targeting a militant command and control centre inside the school. Israel has repeatedly attacked schools that were turned into shelters in Gaza, accusing militants of hiding out in them.
In Tel Aviv, Israel’s police and Shin Bet internal security service said they arrested five Palestinians from northern Israel associated with the Islamic State group over an alleged plan to bomb a shopping centre in Tel Aviv.
The Shin Bet said the five men were active in online discussions on how to plant a car bomb that would topple large skyscrapers in central Tel Aviv. The suspects also allegedly watched videos of IS attacks in Syria.
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Police said they thwarted the plan “in the early stages of its implementation” and seized weapons from their home. Police did not provide further evidence. Two of the men had expressed interest in going abroad to fight with IS, according to police.
The arrests came as Israel faced a spate of shooting and stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinians from Israel and the occupied West Bank that have killed nine people and wounded dozens in recent days.
Reuters, AP
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