BEIRUT: The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon has said that Israeli fire hit one of its patrols in the nation’s south, despite a Hamas-Israel ceasefire mostly quietening the Israel-Lebanon frontier, local media reported on Saturday.
In a statement, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon that at 12:00 pm, a UNIFIL patrol was hit by Israeli army gunfire” in the locality of Aitarun.
It added that no peacekeepers were wounded, but the car was completely damaged. The statement maintained that the latest incident of violence took place during a period of relative calm” along the border between Lebanon and Israel.
Since the Hamas- Israel war began on October 7, the border between Israel and Lebanon has seen growing exchanges of fire, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah, but also Palestinian groups, raising fears of a wider conflagration.
Israeli Shooting Hits Lebanon Patrol Despite Gaza Cease-fire: UN Peacekeepers
A four-day ceasefire between Hamas and Israel began on Friday, and a source close to Hezbollah told the group would also follow to the truce if Israel did.
the UN Interim Force in Lebanon has condemned this attack and said that it would create trouble for restoring peace in south Lebanon.
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Earlier, gunfire lightly injured a UN peacekeeper near the border area of Hula, just hours following UNIFIL stated a bomb hit its headquarters in Naqura close to the Lebanon- Israel frontier. The force maintained it was probing those attacks.
AFP reported that cross-border shooting has killed around 109 people in Lebanon, including Hezbollah men and civilians, AFP maintained that three journalists were also killed in these cross-border attacks. As per media reports, nine Israeli have also been killed on the Israeli side during cross-border fire. Since the Hamas- Israel ceasefire went into effect, calm has mostly returned to Lebanon’s southern frontier.
UNIFIL was established in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli troops following they invaded Lebanon.
