Indonesia Urges Respect for International Law After Peacekeepers Killed in Lebanon

United Nations peacekeepers with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) drive past a Lebanese army outpost in the area of Naqoura in southern Lebanon on March 27, 2026. (AFP)
United Nations peacekeepers with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) drive past a Lebanese army outpost in the area of Naqoura in southern Lebanon on March 27, 2026. (AFP)
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Indonesia Urges Respect for International Law After Peacekeepers Killed in Lebanon

United Nations peacekeepers with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) drive past a Lebanese army outpost in the area of Naqoura in southern Lebanon on March 27, 2026. (AFP)
United Nations peacekeepers with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) drive past a Lebanese army outpost in the area of Naqoura in southern Lebanon on March 27, 2026. (AFP)

Indonesia urged warring parties in the Middle East "to respect international humanitarian law" after three of its peacekeepers were killed in Lebanon.

"The safety of peacekeeping troops must be the top priority. All parties to the conflict are urged to respect international humanitarian law and ensure the security of peacekeeping personnel," defense ministry spokesman Rico Ricardo Sirait said in a statement.

Three United Nations peacekeepers from Indonesia were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon after a bloody weekend in which Lebanese journalists and medics were killed in Israeli strikes.

Two peacekeepers were killed on Monday after an explosion from an unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayyan in south Lebanon, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement. Two other soldiers were wounded in the blast.

Another Indonesian soldier was killed overnight Sunday into Monday when a projectile exploded near one of the group's positions close to the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr. Another peacekeeper was critically injured at the time.

The death on Sunday was the first among the UN's peacekeeping force in the new war between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah which erupted on March 2.

"These are two separate incidents and we are investigating them as two separate incidents," said UNIFIL's spokesperson Kandice Ardiel.

In response to the first death, Indonesia's foreign ministry said on Monday ‌the deceased peacekeeper ‌was one of its citizens and that three others were injured by "indirect artillery fire".

Indonesia condemned ‌the ⁠incident and said ⁠any harm to peacekeepers is unacceptable, while reiterating its condemnation "of Israel's attacks in southern Lebanon."

The country's Foreign Minister Sugiono called on Tuesday in a post on social media website X for an emergency UN Security Council meeting and "for a swift, thorough, and transparent investigation" into the "heinous attack" after speaking with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Israel's military said early on Tuesday it is aware of the reports regarding the two incidents and they are being reviewed thoroughly to determine whether they resulted from Hezbollah or the military's activity.

Guterres said attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.

"We strongly condemn these unacceptable incidents - peacekeepers must never be a target," the UN peacekeeping chief ⁠Jean-Pierre Lacroix told reporters in a briefing on Monday.

PARAMEDICS, JOURNALISTS KILLED

UNIFIL is stationed in southern ‌Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel - an area that is at ‌the heart of clashes between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.

Lebanon was pulled into the war in the Middle East when Hezbollah fired rockets ‌at Israel in solidarity with Tehran, two days after Iran was attacked by Israel and the United States. Hezbollah's attack prompted ‌a new Israeli ground and air offensive.

More than 1,240 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities. They include more than 120 children, nearly 80 women and dozens of paramedics.

More than 400 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since March 2, according to two sources familiar with Hezbollah's count. The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings to residents of six villages in Lebanon's western Bekaa region on Monday, in the first such ‌warning for those areas.

The military said the warning was prompted by what it described as militant activity in the area, without providing further details.

Fresh airstrikes hit several towns in southern Lebanon ⁠on Monday and at least one ⁠strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs.

The Israeli military said strikes in Beirut targeted commanders responsible for coordination between Hezbollah and Palestinian armed groups. At least 10 paramedics were killed over the weekend in Israeli strikes, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Three journalists were killed in an Israeli strike on their car on Saturday.

The Israeli military has accused Hezbollah operatives of posing as Lebanese paramedics, and has said that some journalists it killed were part of the group's intelligence or military wing. It has not publicly provided evidence to support those claims.

Lebanon's health ministry has denied that any ambulances or health facilities are used for military purposes.

Lebanon's presidency has said that targeted journalists are "civilians performing a professional duty."

Israel has said it intends to control a buffer zone up to the Litani River, which runs about 30 km (20 miles) north of the Lebanese border with Israel.

Its ground troops have been pushing into Lebanese border towns and demolishing homes in the area.

Israel's military said on Monday that a sixth soldier had been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon. Lebanon's armed forces said that a Lebanese soldier had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. At least nine Lebanese soldiers have been killed by Israel.

Lebanon's army has not been fighting Israeli forces.



Israeli Strikes Kill 5 in the Gaza Strip

Palestinians walk through a flooded area in a temporary tent camp after heavy rainfall in Gaza City, Thursday, March 26, 2026 (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians walk through a flooded area in a temporary tent camp after heavy rainfall in Gaza City, Thursday, March 26, 2026 (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 5 in the Gaza Strip

Palestinians walk through a flooded area in a temporary tent camp after heavy rainfall in Gaza City, Thursday, March 26, 2026 (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians walk through a flooded area in a temporary tent camp after heavy rainfall in Gaza City, Thursday, March 26, 2026 (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israeli strikes killed at least five people in the Gaza Strip in two separate attacks on Tuesday, health officials said, in the latest violence overshadowing a fragile five-months-old US-brokered ceasefire deal.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia, north of the enclave, killed at least three people earlier in the day, while another airstrike killed two others in ⁠Khan Younis, in ⁠the south.

There was no Israeli comment on either of the two incidents.

Hamas and Israel have traded blame for violations of a ceasefire agreed last October. The Gaza health ⁠ministry said Israeli fire has killed at least 700 people since the ceasefire. Israel said four soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.

Israel, along with the US, is also now engaged in a conflict with Iran, while Israeli forces have also invaded southern Lebanon in a new campaign ⁠against ⁠Iran-backed Hezbollah.


Israel's Katz on Lebanon: to Maintain Control Over Entire Area Up to Litani River

Israeli heavy machinery operates in the southern Lebanese village of Adeisseh, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in the Upper Galilee, northern Israel, 30 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli heavy machinery operates in the southern Lebanese village of Adeisseh, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in the Upper Galilee, northern Israel, 30 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Israel's Katz on Lebanon: to Maintain Control Over Entire Area Up to Litani River

Israeli heavy machinery operates in the southern Lebanese village of Adeisseh, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in the Upper Galilee, northern Israel, 30 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli heavy machinery operates in the southern Lebanese village of Adeisseh, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in the Upper Galilee, northern Israel, 30 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

Israel will establish a buffer zone inside southern Lebanon and maintain control over the entire area up to the Litani River once the conflict with Hezbollah ends, Israel's defense minister said on Tuesday.

"At the end of the operation, the IDF would control ⁠the area up to ⁠the Litani River, including the remaining Litani bridges, while eliminating Radwan forces that infiltrated the area and destroying all weapons there," Israel Katz ⁠said in a statement following a security assessment, calling it a "security zone.”

Radwan forces are an elite military unit of Hezbollah.

Katz said that the more than 600,000 Lebanese residents who have been evacuated northward would be barred from returning south of the Litani ⁠until ⁠the safety of residents in northern Israel is guaranteed.

To that end, "all homes in villages near the border in Lebanon would be destroyed, according to the model of Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza, in order to permanently remove threats near the border to northern residents" in Israel, Katz said.

Israeli military spokesperson ⁠Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said that Hezbollah had fired almost 5,000 drones, rockets and missiles at Israel during the conflict. The Israeli military also announced a new wave of strikes it said were targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut's southern suburbs.


UNRWA Head Seeks Investigation into Killing of Staff in Gaza War

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini attends a press conference on the last day of his mandate at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 31, 2026. (Reuters)
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini attends a press conference on the last day of his mandate at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 31, 2026. (Reuters)
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UNRWA Head Seeks Investigation into Killing of Staff in Gaza War

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini attends a press conference on the last day of his mandate at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 31, 2026. (Reuters)
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini attends a press conference on the last day of his mandate at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 31, 2026. (Reuters)

Discussions are ‌under way for a UN investigation into the killing of more than 390 employees in the two-year Gaza war, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Tuesday, making it the deadliest conflict in the body's history.

"I believe that we need to have a panel – a high-level panel ‌of experts to ‌look into the killing of ‌our ⁠staff," said Philippe Lazzarini, ⁠UNRWA Commissioner-General at a press conference in Geneva on the last day of his term.

The topic has been raised with the office of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and with ⁠member states in New York, he ‌added.

"Part of the ‌reason this has not (been) operationalized yet ‌is there is still an ongoing conflict," ‌he added, referring to Israel's continuing airstrikes in the enclave despite an October ceasefire that ended the Israel-Hamas war.

More than 72,000 Palestinians ‌have been killed since the war in Gaza began in October ⁠2023, ⁠according to local health officials, following an attack on Israel by Hamas-led gunmen in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

Lazzarini, who will be replaced temporarily by Britain's Christian Saunders, warned earlier this month that his organization's viability was in doubt and that any collapse would result in Israel taking over its humanitarian work.