Ireland says Israel increasingly hostile to UN troops

Ireland's foreign minister Micheal Martin on Friday condemned an attack by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon that left two United Nations peacekeepers wounded.

On Thursday, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said Israeli fire on their headquarters in the country's south injured two Blue Helmets.

Prime minister Simon Harris said he was "deeply concerned" at the reports but Martin, who is also deputy prime minister, went further, calling it "an extraordinary development, quite shocking."

"This marks a very serious intensification of IDF (Israeli army) hostility towards U.N. forces and U.N. posts. Absolutely unacceptable. What happened over the last 48 hours prior to this was reckless and intimidatory," he said.

Ireland accounts for 347 of the 10,000 soldiers serving in the UNIFIL forces, which are charged with maintaining peace in the south of Lebanon.

Speaking to reporters in southwest Ireland Martin called on the international community to "really put down a marker to Israel that this is unacceptable behavior."

"The international community now need to collectively engage with Israel and put pressure on Israel to desist from this activity, to stop it, and to ensure that U.N. peacekeepers are not put in harm's way," he said.

Last weekend, UNIFIL said they were concerned that Israeli troops were near an outpost manned by Irish troops.