EU top diplomat: Israel’s assaults on UN peacekeepers violate international law

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrel has condemned Israeli authorities for attacking the UN system.

Borrel made the remarks upon arrival at the summit of the leaders of the community's countries in Brussels, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

“I hope the council will strongly condemn the attacks of the Israeli forces against UNIFIL,” Josep Borrell told reporters at the doorstep of the EU Council meeting in Brussels.

He stressed that Israel injured UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) members in separate recent attacks, drawing international criticism as deliberate attacks on peacekeepers are against international law.

According to Borrell, the Israeli government is attacking the United Nations on all fronts, UN head Guterres is considered anti-Semitic, UNRWA is considered a terrorist organisation and banned from Israel, and the entire UN system is under attack.

To recap, Borrell earlier this week criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to withdraw UNIFIL troops.

UNIFIL was established in March 1978 to confirm Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon and assist the Lebanese government in restoring authority in the area. Its mandate has been expanded over the years, particularly after the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war, to monitor cease-fires and facilitate humanitarian aid.

UNRWA was created by the UN General Assembly more than 70 years ago to assist Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from their land.

Israel dramatically escalated its massive bombing campaign across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,437 people, injuring over 4,123 others, and displacing more than 1.34 million people.

The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip. More than 42,400 people, most of them women and children, have been killed since the war began in the wake of Hamas's October 7, 2023 cross-border attack on Israel.

Israel began its ground invasion of Lebanon on October 1.

By Khagan Isayev