By Amina Ismail and Ahmed Tolba
BEIRUT/CAIRO (Reuters) -Hezbollah said on Sunday it was fighting Israeli forces trying to infiltrate Ramya village in southern Lebanon, as a third U.N. peacekeeper was wounded in Israel’s escalating conflict with the Iran-backed Lebanese group.
Israeli strikes have shook the peacekeepers’ main base in southern Lebanon, prompting U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Western countries to condemn the attacks. The UNIFIL force called it a “serious development” and said the security of U.N. personnel and property must be guaranteed.
France summoned Israel’s ambassador and issued a statement with Italy and Spain calling such attacks “unjustifiable”. U.S. President Joe Biden said he was asking Israel not to hit the UNIFIL forces. Russia said it was “outraged” and demanded Israel refrain from “hostile actions” against peacekeepers.
Israeli military strikes on Gaza on Saturday killed at least 29 Palestinians, medics said, and forces kept pushing deeper into the Jabalia area, where international relief agencies say thousands of people are trapped.
Residents in Jabalia, in the north of the enclave and the largest of its historic refugee camps, said it was being pounded by Israeli forces from the air and ground.
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) said Hezbollah had fired nearly 320 projectiles from Lebanon into Israel on Saturday, without giving further details. It declared areas around some towns in north Israel closed to the public.
Israel issued evacuation orders to residents of 23 southern Lebanese villages to move north of the Awali River, which flows from the western Bekaa Valley into the Mediterranean.
The IDF said evacuations were necessary for the safety of residents due to increased Hezbollah activity, claiming the group is using sites to conceal weapons and launch attacks on Israel. Hezbollah denies concealing weapons among civilians.
The military also published evacuation orders on Saturday for two neighbourhoods on the north edge of Gaza City, saying it was a “dangerous combat zone”. In a statement, Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry urged residents not to relocate.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants erupted one year ago when the Iranian-backed group began launching rockets at northern Israel in support of Hamas, at the start of the Gaza war.
Israel has intensified its military operations in recent weeks, bombing southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, killing many of Hezbollah’s top leaders, and sending ground troops across the border. Hezbollah for its part has fired rockets deeper into Israel.
Israel’s expanded operation has displaced more than 1.2 million people, according to Lebanon’s government, which says more than 2,100 people have been killed and 10,000 wounded in over a year of fighting. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but includes scores of women and children.
US CALLS FOR ‘DIPLOMATIC PATHWAY’
The Middle East remains on high alert for further escalation, awaiting Israel’s response to an Iranian missile barrage on Oct. 1.
NBC News reported on Saturday that U.S. officials believe Israel has narrowed its retaliation targets to military and energy infrastructure.
There is no indication that Israel will target nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations, the report said, citing unidentified U.S. officials, adding that Israel has not made final decisions about how and when to act.
U.S. and Israeli officials said Israel’s response could come during the current Jewish Yom Kippur holiday, NBC reported.
In a sign of a spreading conflict, a Syrian security source told Reuters the U.S.-led coalition in Syria had targeted Iran-linked sites near northeastern Syria’s Deir el-Zor airport on Friday night.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said in a statement on Sunday it had targeted a military site in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights with drones as part of its support of the Palestinian people and Lebanon. It said it would continue escalating attacks against Israeli strongholds.
On Saturday, Islamic Resistance issued three statements saying it targeted the Golan Heights and another saying it targeted the Israeli port of Eilat with drones.
UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, said on Saturday a third peacekeeper was wounded in an Israeli strike when he was hit by gunfire on Friday, adding that the man was stable after undergoing surgery to remove the bullet.
The UNIFIL statement said its position in the southern Lebanese town of Ramyah had sustained significant damage due to explosions following nearby shelling, but did not specify who was responsible for either attack.
Two U.N. peacekeepers were wounded by an Israeli strike near their watchtower at the UNIFIL’s main base in Naqoura in southern Lebanon on Friday. UNIFIL has more than 10,000 personnel, with Italy, France, Malaysia, Indonesia and India among the biggest contributors.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a call with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, expressed “deep concern” about reports that Israeli forces had fired on U.N. peacekeeping positions in Lebanon in recent days and urged Israel to ensure safety for them and the Lebanese military, the Pentagon said.
Austin also “reinforced the need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible”, it said in a statement.
Israel has rejected calls by the United States and other allies for a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza.
(Reporting by Ahmed Tolba, Adam Makary and Hatem Maher in Cairo, James Mackenzie in Jerusalem and Laila Bassam in Beirut; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Kim Coghill and William Mallard)