Peacekeepers wounded in Israel strike in Lebanon, UN says

BEIRUT

At least five U.N. peacekeepers were wounded in an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon on Thursday, the United Nations reported, in a raid that also killed three civilians.

Israel, which has not commented on the incident in Lebanon's Sidon city, launched a barrage of strikes after Hezbollah said it carried out a missile attack targeting a military base near Israel's main international airport on Wednesday.

Hezbollah and Israel have been at war since late September, when Israel broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border, even as the Gaza war continues.

As mediation efforts continue to stall, the U.S. State Department said Secretary Antony Blinken would "continue to pursue an end to the war in Gaza" and in Lebanon before handing over to the administration of President-elect Donald Trump in January.

In Gaza, the civil defense agency reported that 12 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced people on Thursday.

"Women and children were torn apart by F-16 jets and missiles weighing a ton," said witness Ibrahim al-Madhoun at the site of the strike in Gaza City.

Hezbollah began low-intensity strikes on Israel last year in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which triggered the ongoing Gaza war.

The raid in which the U.N. peacekeepers were wounded struck near an army checkpoint in Sidon, Lebanon's main city.

The Lebanese army stated that Israel struck a car at a checkpoint, killing three civilians and injuring three soldiers, as well as members of the Malaysian contingent of the U.N. peacekeeping force, UNIFIL.

"Five peacekeepers were lightly injured," UNIFIL said in a statement, urging all sides to avoid endangering peacekeepers or civilians.

The Malaysian defense ministry indicated that six peacekeepers were wounded when the strike "caused damage to a bus carrying" them.

Lebanon's foreign ministry accused Israel of repeatedly "targeting UNIFIL forces, Lebanese army personnel, and civilians."

'A matter of luck' 

Israel launched raids across the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight, with one hitting an area near the airport.

Taxi driver Abu Elie, who was at the airport during the strikes, told AFP, "People were carrying their suitcases on their shoulders and running."

Officials informed AFP that the raid caused minor damage, but the terminal building was safe and flights were operating as normal.

In southern Lebanon, near the Israeli border, Hezbollah claimed its fighters "ambushed" advancing Israeli troops while also announcing a missile attack targeting an army base south of the city of Haifa.

In the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, some in Lebanon had hoped that new leadership might bring them a reprieve.

However, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem stated in a speech broadcast Wednesday that the election—won by Trump—would have no bearing on the war.

He warned that Hezbollah had tens of thousands of trained militants ready to fight, adding that nowhere in Israel would be "off-limits."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to keep fighting Hamas and Hezbollah until victory, spoke to Trump on Wednesday.

Netanyahu's office stated that the conversation was "warm and cordial," and that the two "discussed the Iranian threat."

In Lebanon, the strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs were so intense that many residents of the city were unable to sleep.

"Death has become a matter of luck. We can either die or survive," said Ramzi Zaiter, a resident of south Beirut.

Since Sept. 23, more than 2,600 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to Health Minister Firass Abiad.

'Nothing left' 

Iran, which arms and finances Hezbollah, dismissed the impact of the U.S. vote.

"It makes no difference to us who won the U.S. election," President Masoud Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Iran and the United States have been adversaries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the Western-backed shah, but tensions soared during Trump's first term from 2017 to 2021.

In Gaza, ravaged by 13 months of war since the deadliest attack in Israeli history, people are desperate for a solution.

"We were displaced, killed... there's nothing left for us; we want peace," said Mamdouh al-Jadba, who was displaced to Gaza City from Jabalia.

The U.N. announced Wednesday that its polio vaccination campaign in Gaza had ended, with more than half a million children vaccinated despite the war.

Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 43,391 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory