Rocket Launched near Peacekeeper Post in Lebanon on Sunday, UN Says

 Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol near the Lebanon-Israel border, at Marjeyoun area in southern Lebanon, 27 August 2024. (EPA)
Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol near the Lebanon-Israel border, at Marjeyoun area in southern Lebanon, 27 August 2024. (EPA)
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Rocket Launched near Peacekeeper Post in Lebanon on Sunday, UN Says

 Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol near the Lebanon-Israel border, at Marjeyoun area in southern Lebanon, 27 August 2024. (EPA)
Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol near the Lebanon-Israel border, at Marjeyoun area in southern Lebanon, 27 August 2024. (EPA)

One of the rockets launched from Lebanon in the heavy exchange between armed group Hezbollah and the Israeli military on Sunday was fired from near a position operated by international peacekeepers, the United Nations force told Reuters on Tuesday.

The UN peacekeeping force for Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said it had detected a "high number of air strikes and rocket launches in its area of operations" starting on Sunday morning.

"One such launch was detected from near one of our positions in Hanniyeh," UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said, referring to a town in southern Lebanon approximately 10 km (6 miles) north of the border with Israel.

The spokesperson said another explosion occurred later in the day near a UNIFIL position in Mays al-Jabal, along the border, but said there was no damage and no casualties.

"We continually stress to everyone that using areas near our positions to launch attacks across the Blue Line or targeting that puts peacekeepers in danger is unacceptable and a violation of Resolution 1701," the spokesperson said.

The Blue Line is the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, where parts of the international border are disputed.

UN resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, tasks UNIFIL with ensuring that its area of operations "is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind".

A spokesperson for the Israeli military said on Monday that it had identified Hezbollah rocket launch sites approximately 150 meters (490 feet) away from a UN position in Hanniyeh, without specifically naming UNIFIL.

There was no immediate response from Hezbollah to a Reuters request for comment.

Hezbollah on Sunday fired rockets and drones at Israeli military sites in retaliation for the killing of a top commander by Israel last month, and Israeli jets targeted approximately 40 launch sites in Lebanon.

It was one of the most intense exchanges of fire between the armed foes in more than 10 months of hostilities playing out in parallel with the Gaza war.



Israel Battles Hamas in Gaza as Space for Displaced Families Narrows 

Palestinians inspect the damage following Israeli bombardment on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 27, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas group. (AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage following Israeli bombardment on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 27, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas group. (AFP)
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Israel Battles Hamas in Gaza as Space for Displaced Families Narrows 

Palestinians inspect the damage following Israeli bombardment on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 27, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas group. (AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage following Israeli bombardment on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 27, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas group. (AFP)

Palestinians displaced by fighting in the Gaza Strip crowded onto the seashore as Israeli forces continued to battle Hamas fighters in central and southern areas, with health officials reporting at least 17 people killed in strikes on Tuesday.

Ceasefire talks were continuing in Cairo with little sign of a concrete breakthrough over key issues separating the sides, including future control over two corridors in the Gaza Strip once fighting ends.

In recent days, Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza, the most since the beginning of the 10-month war, prompting an outcry from Palestinians, the United Nations, and relief officials over the reduction of humanitarian zones and the absence of safe areas.

Residents and displaced families in the southern city of Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza, where most of the population is now concentrated, said they have been pushed to live in tents now packed on the beach.

"Maybe they should bring ships, so next time they order people to leave we can jump there, people are now on the beach near the seawater," said Aya, 30, a displaced woman from Gaza City, who now lives with her family in western Deir Al-Balah.

"Every day they say talks are progressing, an agreement is close, then all falls like dust. Do negotiators know that every day more families get wiped out by Israeli bombardment? Does the world understand that every day more costs us more lives?" she told Reuters via a chat app.

Palestinian health officials said Israeli strikes killed nine Palestinians in Bureij and Maghazi, two of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, while another strike killed five people in Khan Younis and a third killed three others in Rafah.

More than 40,400 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza's health ministry. The crowded enclave has been laid to waste and most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.

The conflict was triggered after Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7 killing 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies.

UN AID OPERATIONS HALTED

On Monday, United Nations aid operations in Gaza ground to a halt after Israel issued new evacuation orders on Sunday for Deir Al-Balah, where the UN operations center was located, a senior UN official said.

The evacuation order came as the UN has been preparing a campaign to vaccinate an estimated 640,000 children in Gaza against polio, after at least one case of the disease was identified.

As the fighting continued, negotiators in Cairo continued meetings aimed at halting the fighting and bringing 109 Israeli and foreign hostages home in an exchange deal for Palestinian prisoners.

Although there has been optimism from the United States, which is supporting the talks along with Egypt and Qatar, Hamas and Israel have been trading blame for a lack of progress.

Among the main sticking points has been Israel's insistence on maintaining control over the so-called Philadelphi corridor on the border with Egypt, which Israel says has been used as one of the main routes for smuggling weapons into Gaza.

Israel has also insisted on checks on people moving from southern and central Gaza into northern areas across the Netzarim corridor, running across the center of the Gaza Strip, saying it needs to ensure armed fighters cannot move north.