UNIFIL's Tenenti condemns targeting of civilians as 'war crimes'

The U.N. peacekeeping force deployed along the Lebanon-Israel border, known as UNIFIL, expressed concerns Thursday over the latest “exchanges of fire,” and urged all sides involved to halt hostilities to prevent further escalation.

“Attacks targeting civilians are violations of international law and constitute war crimes,” UNIFIL’s spokesman Andrea Tenenti said in a statement. “The devastation, loss of life, and injuries witnessed are deeply concerning.”

The U.N. secretary-general's spokesman Stephane Dujarric had warned Wednesday that "the recent escalation is dangerous indeed and should stop."

Peacekeepers from the United Nations mission in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, had noticed "a concerning shift in the exchanges of fire between the Israeli armed forces and armed groups in Lebanon", he added.

The attacks included the "targeting of areas far from the Blue Line", he said, referring to the withdrawal line demarcated by the U.N. in 2000 after Israeli troops pulled out of southern Lebanon.

Ten civilians, mostly women and children, were killed Wednesday in Israeli airstrikes on Nabatiyeh and Souaneh, after rockets fired from Lebanon struck the northern Israeli town of Safed, killing a female Israeli soldier and wounding eight others, all soldiers.