This morning the Israeli army announced that it had killed Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Mohammad Abdullah in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank. The man would have been eliminated in the Israeli air raid on the Tulkarem field. The controversy continues over what happened yesterday in southern Lebanon where the Israeli armed forces opened fire on the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura, causing the wounding of two peacekeepers. Two other positions in Labbouneh and Ras Naqoura, which host the Italian contingent, were hit. The news recently broke that the IDF fired at an observation point of the Unifil peacekeeping force in its main base in Naqoura, in southern Lebanon, wounding two people. This was reported by UN sources, reported by the news agency Reuters. Israeli forces also breached the perimeter of another UNIFIL post they had fired at on October 10, the source said.
The UN expressed strong condemnation, underlining that “any deliberate attack against peacekeeping forces represents a serious violation of international humanitarian law and Security Council Resolution 1701″. UNIFIL also reminded the Israeli Forces (IDF) and all actors involved of their obligation to ensure the safety of UN personnel and to respect the inviolability of their facilities. In response to the Israeli request to evacuate the positions along the border between Israel and Lebanon, a UNIFIL spokesperson reiterated the refusal of the mission, as reported by the Walla website. Italy also expressed a formal protest: Defense Minister Guido Crosetto spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, and summoned the Israeli ambassador to Rome. In a press conference, Crosetto declared: «This is not a mistake or an accident. Repeated hostile acts by Israeli forces against Base 1.31 could constitute war crimes and are certainly serious violations of international law. There is no justification for saying that the Israeli armed forces had advised UNIFIL that some of the bases had to be left. I told the ambassador to tell the Israeli government that the United Nations and Italy cannot take orders from the Israeli government.”
The very harsh sentences of Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, considered “disproportionate” by the Israeli military hierarchy, are one of the possible keys to the reasons for yesterday’s episode. On the one hand, in fact, the Jerusalem army maintains silence on what happened, also because the contours of the affair are being studied in depth by the Israeli Defense Forces, well aware of the extent of an event of this type. On the other hand, however, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, after the Israeli forces opened fire on several UN positions wounding two peacekeepers, reiterated the request already made explicit last October 5: «Israel is concentrated on the fight against Hezbollah and recommends that the United Nations peacekeeping force (Unifil) in southern Lebanon move north. Our recommendation is that UNIFIL move 5km north to avoid danger as the fighting intensifies and as the situation along the Blue Line remains unstable due to Hezbollah’s aggression. Israel has no desire to stay in Lebanon, but will do what is necessary to force Hezbollah away from its northern border so that 70,000 residents can return to their homes in northern Israel.” Last night the Embassy of Israel in Italy took a position on what happened in a statement: «Israel appreciates the assistance of Unifil’s donor countries, in particular Italy, and thanks them for their attempt to prevent an escalation in the our region. Since October 8, Hezbollah has fired thousands of missiles at Israel and tens of thousands of Israeli citizens have been forced to evacuate their homes in the north. Unfortunately Hezbollah is trying to hide near the UNIFIL bases and Israel has already discovered tunnels and weapons caches near that area. Israel has repeatedly recommended to the Italian UNIFIL military to withdraw part of their forces from the area for security reasons, but unfortunately the request was rejected. Israel is investigating what happened very carefully and will continue to make every effort not to target UN forces and people not involved in the ongoing conflict with Hezbollah.”
The Union of Italy-Israel Associations (UAII) in a statement states that what happened yesterday in Lebanon «could be an opportunity to review the UNIFIL mission and not an opportunity to once again criminalize Israel, which requested the UN forces in area to remain in protected spaces before intervening”. Furthermore, continues the President of the UAII, Avv. Celeste Vichi, «The Hezbollah terrorist organization operates within and near civilian areas, including UNIFIL positions, which have in fact become real shields for Hezbollah’s military bases and the terrorists they are supposed to disarm. The UNIFIL mission in these areas over all these years, rather than fulfilling its security mandate – already costing ten billion dollars – is only putting the lives of our soldiers at risk. Since our interposition forces are not currently in a position to obtain any pacification and/or military objective in the area, we hope that the Italian State will order their withdrawal as soon as possible to safeguard the safety of our soldiers who find themselves operating in a theater of war”.
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