Three UN contractors wounded by gunfire in south Lebanon

A spokesperson for the United Nations peacekeeping force deployed in south Lebanon along the border with Israel said three of their contractors were wounded when gunfire hit their vehicle.

“Fortunately, there were no serious injuries,” deputy spokesperson for UNIFIL Kandice Ardiel said Tuesday.

Asked if the fire came from the Israeli side, Ardiel said: “At this point, we can’t determine the origin.”

She said the contractors were returning home from UNIFIL’s Sector West headquarters in the village of Chama when their vehicle was hit by gunfire. Chama is about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the border with Israel.

Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire nearly every day since the war in Gaza began in October.

“We reiterate our condemnation of any attack on civilians, or any action that puts civilian lives in danger,” Ardiel said, adding that this includes locals who still live in their villages and provide essential services to support peacekeepers in their work. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 400 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah and other militants, but also over 80 civilians and non-combatants. In northern Israel, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed by strikes launched from Lebanon.

“We have already seen too many injuries and deaths as a result of the exchanges of fire,” Ardiel said. She added that UNIFIL urges all actors involved in the conflict to cease their fire and work toward a diplomatic solution to bring the violence to an end.

UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion. The U.N. expanded its mission following the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, allowing peacekeepers to deploy along the Israeli border to help the Lebanese military extend its authority into the country’s south for the first time in decades.