Says that ongoing Israeli military operations have placed UN peacekeepers in Lebanon at grave risk
UN peacekeeper (UNIFIL) vehicle drives in Bent Jbeil, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect, southern Lebanon, on November 27, 2024. Photo REUTERS
Indonesia has called on the United Nations to investigate the deaths of three of its UNIFIL peacekeepers following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, a foreign ministry official said in a statement published on Wednesday.
The ministry’s UN representative, Umar Hadi, made the statement during an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday.
“We demand a direct investigation from the UN, not just Israel’s excuses,” he said.
Indonesia said earlier this week that ongoing Israeli military operations have placed UN peacekeepers in Lebanon at grave risk.
The Indonesian peacekeepers were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon after a bloody weekend in which Lebanese journalists and medics were also killed in Israeli strikes.
Read: Four Israeli soldiers killed in southern Lebanon
A roadside explosion appeared to have struck the convoy of two Indonesian peacekeepers killed in southern Lebanon on Monday, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Tuesday, citing the initial findings of an investigation.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that its review of an incident involving UNIFIL troops on Monday concluded that Israeli troops did not place an explosive device in the area and that no troops were present there.
Indonesia contributes over 2,700 uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping, among the largest contributors globally, the UN said in 2024.
Indonesia has pledged to contribute troops for potential deployment in Gaza as part of the UN-mandated multinational International Stabilisation Force.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had instructed the military to further expand the existing security buffer zone in southern Lebanon, vowing to fundamentally change the security situation there.
“I have just instructed to further expand the existing security buffer zone. We are determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north,” Netanyahu said in a video statement from the Northern Command.
He said the decision aimed to strengthen Israel’s security posture along the northern frontier, amid ongoing tensions along Israel’s northern border, where cross-border hostilities have raised fears of a broader regional escalation.
