The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that the bloc’s members had agreed on asking Israel to stop attacking UNIFIL.
He also said that the EU had taken too long to condemn these attacks.
It’s “completely unacceptable” attacking UN troops, he said.
“Many European members are participating in this mission,” Borrell noted.
“Their work is very important.”
EU countries, led by Italy, France and Spain, have thousands of troops in the 10,000-strong peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, which has said it has repeatedly come under attack from Israeli forces in recent days
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in a call on Sunday with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, “reinforced the importance of Israel taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese Armed Forces”, according to a readout of the call.
UNIFIL had sent the Israeli military a letter in early October, seen by Reuters, that said that Israeli military positions had been taken up so close to UN positions that they had effectively become “one position”.
UNIFIL said this posed a serious threat to peacekeepers.
