Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has told his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant that the shelling of the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon on Thursday was unacceptable.
Crosetto said that such incidents must be carefully avoided.
The United Nations said Israeli troops had fired on the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), injuring at least two UN peacekeepers.
These are the first casualties among UN soldiers since Israel’s ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon began one week ago. Israel’s military has not yet commented on the incident.
The UN observer mission UNIFIL has been monitoring the border area between Lebanon and Israel for decades. More than 10,000 UN soldiers from around 50 countries are involved.
After Indonesia, Italy is the second-largest provider of troops, with 1,000 soldiers participating in the mission.
Crosetto also summoned the Israeli ambassador in Rome and lodged a strongly worded complaint with him.
