UN Condemns Israel Lebanon Attack on Peacekeepers

BarcelonaThe United Nations Peace mission for Lebanon (Finul) has reported on Wednesday that Israel has attacked his staff in the south of the country. Israeli drones would have launched four grenades against the blue helmets in which the organization described as “one of the most serious attacks” since the announcement of the Alo the fire last November. One has hit less than 20 meters from its staff and UN vehicles and three more than a hundred meters southeast of the town of Marwahin, according to a statement. Then the drones would have returned behind the so -called blue line, which marks the border between Lebanon and Israel.

The UN Peace Strength staff were working to remove obstacles that blocked a UN position near the dividing line at the time of the attack, according to the same statement, but the Israeli army had previously been reported. Following the incident, they suspended the tasks in the area “in the face of concern for the safety of peace forces”.

That the Israeli army was alerted to the hypothesis of the deliberate attack to prevent anyone from approaching the border areas. In fact, from Alto El Foc, Israel has set positions within the Lebanese territory along this blue line, and has created a security area. This has prevented tens of thousands of people from returning to their villages, not even to rebuild the homes or to clean the rubble.

Israel has long reported that the unifil is useless, an argument that has also been adopted by the American administration of Donald Trump. In fact, the peace mission is only guaranteed by the presence in Lebanon until the end of next year, and then it will have to withdraw its troops. Lebanon, on the other hand, argues that the Finul needs to fulfill his commitment to disarm the Hezbollah.

Israel goes into Gaza City

The irreverence of the Israeli army in Lebanon becomes even more clear in the Gaza Strip, where its troops enter without stopping in the capital ignoring the repeated international calls to stop the offensive. This morning they had advanced to Sheikh Radwan, one of the largest and busiest neighborhoods in the city center, and are already a few kilometers from the center of the city of Gaza. In its path, the army has destroyed buildings and camps with tents where thousands of displaced Palestinians had stayed.

At least three Palestinian civilians died on Wednesday and dozens more were injured when Israeli forces have opened fire against a group of people waiting for humanitarian aid in the north of the city of Rafah, to the south of the Gaza Strip, reports medical sources that quoted the chain in Jazeera. The injured would be more than fifty. The new incident has taken place near the Distribution Center of the Humanitarian Gaza Fondation-the entity created by Israel and the United States to replace the NGOs operating on the ground-in the Al-Shakoush area.

The incident adds to the humanitarian tragedy suffered by the civilian population trapped by the Israeli military offensive. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, in the hands of Hamas, counting the dead in Rafah at least 20 people have lost their lives this Wednesday in different attacks. Fifteen of the victims have died in the city of Gaza, subjected to aerial bombings and artillery throughout the night. The figures, however, vary according to sources that are collected through agencies, as local hospitals warn that more than 50 Palestinians have died only in this city since midnight. Other sources, linked to Hamàs, also indicate that among the dead, six have been for malnutrition.

In the middle of this context, the escape to the south is becoming more difficult and more expensive. The displaced ones say that they have to pay between $ 700 and 800 for a journey, about $ 1,000 for a tent – if they are available – and commissions of 30 or 40% in intermediaries. “We have no job or food. The flour costs me over $ 200,” said a Gaza neighbor in Al-Jazeera, in a broadcast this morning. United Nations calculations point out that 20,000 people have escaped the city in the last two weeks, but almost a million residents are still trapped. Humanitarian officials warn that the impact of a total offensive will be “more than catastrophic”.

The internal pressure grows

In the meantime, the pressure also grows inside Israel. Earlier this Wednesday, a group of protesters climbed on the roof of the National Library, in Jerusalem, and protested before the house of the Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, demanding the Government an agreement for the return of the hostages. Fire has been recorded in the same city near the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for punishments against protesters, accusing them of “inciting hatred and civil war.”

But the government of Benjamin Netanyahu does not stop its war machinery. Israel has already begun mobilizing thousands of reservists – between 40,000 and 60,000, according to different sources – to strengthen the terrestrial offensive over the city of Gaza, within the framework of the operation. Gideon’s Chariots IIwith which he assures that he already controls 75% of the territory. Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday that the goal is to “conquer all Gaza, defeat Hamas and release all hostages.” According to Israeli authorities, the Islamist organization still holds 48 people, 20 of whom are believed to be still alive.