Two United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been wounded after an Israeli tank directly hit a UN observation tower, prompting outrage from troop-contributing nations.
Italy, which leads the 10,000-strong peacekeeping force along the Lebanon-Israel border, said firing on UN bases broke international law, and summoned the Israeli ambassador.
Ireland, which contributes several hundred soldiers to the force, said targeting peacekeepers was “reprehensible and unacceptable”.
The wounded Indonesian soldiers were not seriously injured but remain in hospital, according to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil).
The incident was one of several in recent days in which the UN headquarters and its nearby positions were hit as Israel stepped up its operations against Hezbollah.
On Thursday morning, a statement from the UN said “two peacekeepers were injured after an [Israeli] Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower at Unifil’s headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall”.
Israeli soldiers also fired on a UN position in Ras Naqoura, “hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system”.
The mission said an Israeli drone was seen “flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance”.
In a third incident, Israeli Defense Forces troops had “fired at and disabled the position’s perimeter-monitoring cameras”.
A spokesman said the UN group would be “following up with the Israeli Defense Forces on these matters”.
The UN has around 10,000 troops in Lebanon from 50 nations. The soldiers monitor the country’s “blue line” border with Israel, which is a provisional UN-drawn frontier between the two countries.
Guido Crosetti, Italy’s defence minister, said the “shooting” at the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping force was “intolerable”, and that other incidents involving small arms fire “must be carefully and decisively avoided”.
He added: “For these reasons, I protested to my Israeli counterpart and the Israeli ambassador to Italy.”
Mr Crosetto said he had told Gen Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, “that what is happening… starting from the shooting at the Unifil headquarters is, for me and for the Italian government, unacceptable.
“Any possible error that could put the soldiers, both Italian and Unifil, at risk must be avoided”, he said.
Mr Crosetto said the shooting of the watchtower and the other incidents outlined by Unifil were “in clear contrast to international law”.
“This morning I sent a formal communication to the United Nations to reiterate the unacceptability of what is happening in South Lebanon,” he said.
Michael Martin, Ireland’s minister for defence and foreign affairs, strongly condemned “the Israeli Defense Forces targeting and firing on Unifil positions in Lebanon”.
“It’s reprehensible and unacceptable to injure peacekeepers and to put them in harm’s way,” he said.
“Israel has an obligation to protect peacekeepers and its actions are in breach of international humanitarian law.”
Simon Harris, the taoiseach, further condemned the targeting of peacekeepers, saying: “The blue helmet worn by UN peacekeepers must be sacrosanct.”
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which widened its offensive in Lebanon against the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
‘UN flag continues to fly’
Israel called on the force to remove troops from some positions last week, but the UN refused. A spokesman said that “peacekeepers remain in all positions and the UN flag continues to fly”.
Michael Higgins, the president of Ireland, called the request to move “an insult to the most important global institution”.
A day later, Unifil warned that Israeli operations near one of its positions south-east of Maroun al-Ras were “extremely dangerous” and compromising the blue helmets’ safety.
The Unifil peacekeeping force was established in 1978 and expanded following a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Its major contributing nations include France, Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia and Ghana.
04:36 PM BST
That’s all for today
Thank you for following the developments. The latest updates were:
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Italy has summoned Israel’s ambassador over what it has described as an “intolerable” shooting by IDF soldiers at UN peacekeeping positions in south Lebanon. Two members of the mission were lightly wounded on Thursday after their outpost was hit by fire from an Israeli tank.
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Hezbollah continued to fire missiles into northern Israel throughout Thursday, with a barrage of 50 rockets flying into Israeli airspace in the afternoon. An Israeli couple were confirmed to have been killed while walking their dog on Wednesday. No Israeli casualties were reported on Thursday.
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Palestinian medics have said that 28 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a shelter for displaced people in central Gaza. The IDF claims that the building, a former school, was used by Hamas as a command centre.
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Israeli police say they have thwarted a plan by five of their citizens to detonate a car bomb outside a popular shopping mall in Tel Aviv. The suspects, all of whom are Israeli Arabs, are said to have been in contact with Isis and their plan was in its “preliminary stages.”
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A report commissioned by the UN has accused Israel of serious war crimes during its war in Gaza. The report accused Israeli security personnel of having killed, detained and tortured medical personnel and targeted medical vehicles. Jerusalem has rejected the commission’s work as biased.
04:19 PM BST
Funeral held for civil defence workers killed in air strike
A few more pictures from the wires from the conflict in Lebanon, including a funeral service for five civil defence workers who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday.
03:41 PM BST
Lebanese locals speak English ‘with Irish accent’
Dublin was particularly incensed after Israel fired on UN troops in Southern Lebanon – and not only because its troops are stationed there, reports James Crisp, The Telegraph’s Europe Editor.
Ireland’s peacekeepers have been in southern Lebanon so long that some locals now speak English with an Irish accent.
Ireland has a long-standing policy of military neutrality, which means it is not part of Nato.
UN membership has been central to Irish foreign policy since Ireland joined in 1955 and UN peacekeeping missions have a similar place in the national imagination as wars in other countries.
Ireland has also long identified with Palestine’s struggle because of its war of independence from the UK, with parallels being drawn between Israeli and British oppression.
This year, the Irish government gave Palestine official state recognition, much to the fury of Israel.
03:22 PM BST
UN probe accuses Israel of seeking to ‘destroy’ Gaza healthcare
Israel is deliberately targeting health facilities and killing and torturing medical personnel in Gaza, UN investigators said Thursday, accusing the country of “crimes against humanity”.
The report found that Israeli security forces had “deliberately killed, detained and tortured medical personnel and targeted medical vehicles” in Gaza and restricted permits to leave the territory for medical treatment.
It also concluded that thousands of Palestinian detainees, including children, have been subjected to “widespread and systematic abuse, physical and psychological violence, and sexual and gender-based violence.”
The three-person commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged international law violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, was publishing its second report since Hamas’s October 7 attack a year ago, which sparked the ongoing war.
Israel has accused the commission of “systematic anti-Israeli discrimination” and flatly rejected the findings of its June report.
03:10 PM BST
Italy summons Israeli ambassador over tank fire at UN outpost
Italy has protested to Israel over shots fired at positions used by UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Thursday.
Firing on UNIFIL bases was “totally unacceptable” and clearly flouts international law, Crosetto added in a statement.
Italy is the largest contributor of soldiers to UNIFIL and the head of the mission is an Italian general.
02:57 PM BST
Irish Taoiseach calls reported IDF attack on UN peacekeepers ‘intolerable’
Simon Harris, head of the Irish government, has reacted to a claim by the UN that Israeli soldiers fired on its positions in southern Lebanon.
He said he was “deeply concerned” and stated that “firing on peacekeepers can never be tolerated or accepted.”
Harris added that Irish troops were not involved in the incident.
Ireland has contributed 340 soldiers to the UN mission, which was set up in the 1970s to ensure security on the border between Lebanon and Israel.
Earlier in the day the UN said that two soldiers were lightly injured when an Israeli tank fired at one of their positions.
It is not yet clear what country the injured soldiers come from.
02:43 PM BST
Barrage of 50 rockets fired at northern Israel
The Israeli military has said that Hezbollah fired 50 rockets at settlements in northern Israel this afternoon, leading to sirens sounding in towns in the Western Galilee region.
No injuries were immediately reported.
Hezbollah have confirmed on Telegram that they fired rockets at Israeli cities. They also claim to have destroyed an IDF tank near the border leading to casualties.
02:41 PM BST
Pictures: latest images from conflict in Lebanon
Israel continued its ground and air campaign against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Thursday.
Here are some pictures that have come through on the wires.
02:20 PM BST
Gulf states ‘lobbying Washington to stop Israel attacking Iran’s oil sites’
Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are trying to convince the US to talk Israel out of striking Iran’s oil facilities.
They are also refusing to let Israel fly over their air space for any attack on Iran and have conveyed this to Washington, three sources close to government circles in the region have told Reuters.
During meetings this week, Iran warned Saudi Arabia it could not guarantee the safety of the Gulf kingdom’s oil facilities if Israel were given any assistance in carrying out an attack, a senior Iranian official and an Iranian diplomat told Reuters.
Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst close to the Saudi royal court, said: “The Iranians have stated: ‘If the Gulf states open up their airspace to Israel, that would be an act of war.’”
Israel has promised Iran will pay for its missile attack last week while Tehran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the region that could suck in the United States.
01:44 PM BST
IDF soldiers ‘deliberately’ shot at UN security cameras
The UN has given more detail on alleged attacks by Israeli soldiers on its peace keeping positions in southern Lebanon.
Peacekeeping mission UNIFIL said that Israeli forces had “fired at and disabled the position’s perimeter-monitoring cameras” at a UN position in Ras Naqoura.
Israeli soldiers also fired at the position, “hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system.”
“Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” UNIFIL said in a statement, adding that it was following up with the Israeli military.
01:30 PM BST
Pictures: Aftermath of air strike on former school
Photos have come through one the wires of the aftermath of an IDF strike on a former school in central Gaza earlier today.
The opposing sides have given different accounts of the strike, with Israel calling it a “precision” hit on a terror command post while Palestinian witnesses said that there were no Hamas operatives present at a site which housed displaced people.
Over two dozen people are reported to have been killed.
01:03 PM BST
Israel thwarts Isis-inspired attack on Tel Aviv mall
Five men have been arrested on suspicion of plotting a car bomb attack on a shopping centre in Tel Aviv.
The men, Arab Israeli citizens, planned to carry out the attack in the name of extremist group Isis and had discussed how much explosive they would need to bring down one of the Azrieli Towers, a group of three skyscrapers.
Police say that they stopped the plot “in its preliminary stages” after a month-long undercover operation.
The men had been in contact with Isis figures abroad and had planned to travel outside Israel to plan their attack.
Recent weeks have seen an uptick in terror attacks inside Israel with the most recent being an assault by a man armed with a knife in the city of Hadera.
One man was murdered in the incident, while five others were injured.
12:32 PM BST
Death count from Gaza airstrike up to 28
An Israeli air strike in central Gaza has left 28 people dead, with conflicting reports of who was targeted.
The strike hit a former school in the town of Deir al-Balah which has been used as a shelter for displaced people.
The IDF (Israel Defence Force) said they hit a terrorist command post.
“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the IDF said in a statement.
Palestinians from the town have told the Associated Press that Hamas police used the school as an operating base but that they were not present in the building at the time.
In recent days heavy fighting has broken out in parts of Gaza again as Hamas attempts to regroup.
11:46 AM BST
Two killed by rocket fire in north of Israel
Two Israeli civilians have been killed in a Hezbollah rocket attack in northern Israel.
The couple, Revital Yehud, 45, and Dvir Sharvit, 43, were hit by rocket debris as they walked their dog in the city of Kiryat Shmona, which borders Lebanon, on Wednesday. Both were killed instantly.
Hezbollah said it fired 20 rockets at the city, causing damage to several homes and sparking fires in residential areas.
Local authorities told Army Radio that the city “pushed” the residents to evacuate after Hezbollah began attacking northern Israel on Oct 8 last year but that 2,000 stayed behind.
“I hope that after the harsh sights, people will think twice. The missiles won’t stop. You need to understand, the warning time in Kiryat Shmona is between one second to 10 seconds. Sometimes there’s a hit and then a warning siren,” Doron Shnaper, a city spokesman, said.
11:20 AM BST
Over a dozen killed in IDF strike in Gaza: reports
An Israeli strike on a school repurposed as a shelter for displaced people in the Gaza Strip killed at least 21 people on Thursday, with the toll likely to rise, Palestinian medical officials have said.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Witnesses said the strike targeted a makeshift post of the Hamas-run police inside the shelter.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were brought, confirmed the toll from the strike in the central town of Deir al-Balah. It said several other people were wounded.
11:10 AM BST
Israeli man dies after Wednesday stabbing attack
A 35-year-old man who was stabbed during a terror attack in the Israeli town of Hadera has died of his injuries, it was confirmed on Thursday.
The victim has been named as Rafael Mordechai Pishoff, a 35-year-old father of six.
During the attack, a man armed with a knife used a moped to travel between several locations in the town, stabbing random people on his way.
Six people were injured in the incident.
The suspect, an Israeli Arab man, was cornered by armed civilians before the police subdued him.
10:45 AM BST
Pictures: scenes of destruction, upheaval in Lebanon
The conflict in southern Lebanon has led thousands of Syrians who had fled the civil war in their home country to move back. Many refugees have tried to return via a crossing still held by rebel forces in the north of the country.
10:16 AM BST
Biden, Netanyahu hold ‘direct’ phone call after weeks-long silence
The US President and Israeli Prime Minister talked for the first time in two months yesterday but the read-out of the call shed no light on how Israel will respond to the recent Iranian missile strike, reports The Telegraph’s Paul Nuki from Tel Aviv.
Relations between the US and Israel are at a low point, with US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said to be “angry beyond words” after being kept in the dark about Israel’s assault on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Separately, Joe Biden is reported to have come to regard Benjamin Netanyahu as a “f***ing liar”.
Only the US gave a read out of the near hour-long call, and it was terse, with officials saying that Mr Biden “affirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security [and] condemned unequivocally” Tehran’s October 1 missile strike.
Although the call was said to have been conducted in a “positive spirit” it was also described as “direct” – perhaps an indication of ongoing disagreement.
The US is said to want Israel to limit its retaliation to military targets within Iran, rather than hit nuclear, oil or other economic targets that risk escalating the conflict further. Netanyahu meanwhile is under pressure domestically to try and topple the Iranian regime.
In theory, the US should have more leverage over Israel in matters relating to Iran as the US-led Centcom alliance provides much of the protection Israel relies on from Iran’s missiles. But Mr Netanyahu has defied Mr Biden repeatedly over the last year and could well do so again.
Meanwhile, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, vowed on Thursday that Israel’s strike on Iran will be “lethal, precise and especially surprising.” They “won’t understand what happened to it, or how,” he added.
Vice President Kamala Harris was reported to have listened in to the call.
10:09 AM BST
Israel has destroyed 192 targets in Syria this year
More interesting details from the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Israel’s ongoing campaign to weaken Iran in Syria.
The group, which is well-connected throughout the country, reports that the Israeli military has hit 192 sites that include “buildings, weapons and ammunition warehouses, headquarters and vehicles.”
According to the report summary, the strikes have killed 257 combatants including 25 from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, 47 Hezbollah members, 75 Iranian militiamen and 56 soldiers from the Syrian army.
The attacks have focused on Damascus and the surrounding region, but the city of Homs, close to north Lebanon, has also been heavily targeted.
Strikes have been carried out as far north as Aleppo.
09:52 AM BST
Shooting at site of Israeli defence company in Sweden
A teenager has been arrested after firing a gun at the site of an Israeli defence company’s offices in Gothenburg, Sweden.
According to local media, police arrested a 15-year-old who had shot a weapon at the premises of company Elbit Systems.
No injuries have been reported. The incident is being treated as attempted murder.
A large police operation involving helicopters and several vehicles took place after the reported shooting on Thursday morning, Aftonbladet newspaper reports.
This isn’t the first atttack on the company, which builds drones.
In early June, police said they had found a “suspected explosive object” outside the firm’s offices.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, there have been several incidents apparently targeting Israeli interests in Sweden.
In February, police found a grenade on the grounds of the Israeli embassy compound, which the ambassador said was an attempted attack.
In mid-May, gunshots were fired outside the Israeli embassy, which prompted the country to boost security measures around Israeli interests and Jewish community institutions.
09:43 AM BST
Israel hits Hezbollah supply route in Syria
An Israeli strike hit a road linking Syria and Lebanon on Thursday as part of efforts to cut off supply routes to Hezbollah.
Israel has increased it strikes on Syria over the past two weeks ago.
“Israeli aircraft carried out a strike targeting the road linking Syria and Lebanon” in the Quseir region on the Syrian side of the border, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the group with a wide network of sources in Syria, said the strike came as part of Israeli attempts “to cut the supply line to Hezbollah”.
09:37 AM BST
Couple killed in rocket attack moved north two years ago
The Israeli media has some background on the couple killed by a Hezbollah missile while walking their dog in the border town of Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday.
Revital Yehud, 45, was originally from the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba. Her partner, Dvir Sharvit, 43, was from the town of Eilat in the very south of the country.
The couple moved to Kiryat Shmona, which is situated directly next to the Lebanese border, around two years ago.
09:19 AM BST
Video: site of rocket impact in north Israel
Israel’s foreign ministry has posted footage of the aftermath of a rocket attack on the town of Kiryat Shmona that killed two civilians on Wednesday.
Smoke can be seen rising from a building in the town after what the ministry described as a “barrage” of missiles hit it.
This is Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel earlier today, following a barrage of Hezbollah rockets launched from Lebanon.
Two Israelis—a man and a woman—were murdered.
𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐳𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐡, 𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭, 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐲… pic.twitter.com/S13xfeImfz
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 9, 2024
09:12 AM BST
Tanker struck by projectile off Yemen coast
A ship was struck and damaged by an “unknown projectile” in the Red Sea, a British maritime agency said on Thursday.
“The master of the vessel reports being hit by unknown projectile and the vessel has sustained damage, no fires or casualties reported,” said the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), run by the British navy.
Ambrey, a maritime security firm, said the Liberia-flagged chemicals tanker was hit on its bridge, “causing light damage”, 73 nautical miles southwest of Hodeida, a port city held by the Huthis.
The ship, which was travelling from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to Muscat in Oman, later reported two more explosions nearby, UKMTO and Ambrey said.
“The crew are reported safe. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity,” UKMTO added.
09:11 AM BST
Quarter of all Lebanon under Israeli evacuation orders
A quarter of Lebanon’s territory is now subject to Israeli evacuation orders according to the United Nations human rights body, reports Ben Farmer in Beirut.
Israel’s military has been issuing nearly daily orders warning residents of towns and villages in the south to move north for their safety in the face of air strikes and ground operations against Hezbollah targets.
More than 100 villages and neighbourhoods have been told to leave so far.
“One quarter of Lebanese territory is now under Israeli military displacement orders,” according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The UN’s humanitarian body said the situation in Lebanon was “deteriorating at an alarming rate”.
“Israeli airstrikes have not only intensified but also expanded into previously unaffected areas and increasingly targeted critical civilian infrastructure,” the body said.
09:04 AM BST
Welcome to our live coverage
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage.
We’ll bring you updates and analysis from the Middle East conflict throughout the day.
