The head of EU foreign policy denounced Israel’s “unacceptable attacks” on UN peacekeepers in its fight against Hezbollah and reiterated calls for a “immediate ceasefire” in Lebanon on Monday.
The UNIFIL peacekeeping operation is now at the forefront of the Middle East’s growing crisis due to the offensive against the Iran-backed militia.
Since Israel began its ground offensive at the end of September, UNIFIL, which has been stationed in southern Lebanon since 1978, has recorded multiple casualties as well as damage to its installations.
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hezbollah is utilising the military as “human shields” and has been urged to leave.
Josep Borrell, the head of foreign policy, told a symposium in Barcelona that the European Union demands “an immediate ceasefire across the blue lines” for UNIFIL monitors and the observance of pertinent UN Security Council resolutions.
Following the most recent Israel-Hezbollah conflict in 2006, the Security Council adopted a resolution stating that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers should be stationed in southern Lebanon.
Borrell also mentioned “condemning the unacceptable attacks” against UNIFIL soldiers and infrastructure that were carried out by Israeli forces.
Borrell stated that the summit bringing together Mediterranean leaders needed to do more than “just express concern,” citing UN warnings that Gaza’s humanitarian crisis was the worst since World War II.
“The way this war is being taken against civilians has grave concerns and put too many unanswered questions.”
The conflict in Gaza, the fighting along the Lebanese-Israeli border, and the first direct attacks between Israel and Iran were all brought on by Hamas’s historic October 7 attack on Israel last year.
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