Middle East disaster live: UN peacekeepers 'should never be a target'; Netanyahu “will not attack Iran's nuclear facilities”

The Washington Submit reports that Benjamin Netanyahu has told the Biden administration that Israel is willing to limit strikes against Iran to military targets, rather than oil or nuclear facilities. Citing unnamed officials, the Submit writes that this suggests Netanyahu is considering a more limited counterattack in retaliation for the missile barrage launched by Iran on October 1.

The retaliatory action would be calibrated to avoid the perception of “political interference in the US elections,” the official familiar with the matter said, indicating that Netanyahu understands that the scope of the Israeli attack has the potential to reshape the presidential race.

An Israeli attack on Iranian oil facilities could send energy prices soaring, analysts say, while an attack on the country's nuclear research program could erase any remaining red lines governing Israel's conflict with Tehran, triggering further escalation. and risking a more direct US military role. Netanyahu's stated plan to attack military sites, as Israel did after Iran's attack in April, was met with relief in Washington.

Biden has said he would not support an attack on Iran's nuclear sites and oil markets have been nervous about the prospect of an Israeli attack on Iranian oil fields. Gulf states have pressured Washington to prevent Israel from attacking Iran's oil sites because they are concerned that their own oil facilities could be attacked by Tehran's proxies if the conflict escalates.

Oil fell in early trading after the report was released. West Texas Intermediate futures fell as much as 2.9% to $71.70 a barrel, after already losing 2.3% on Monday, Bloomberg reported.

In a statement responding to the Washington Submit article, Netanyahu's office said that “we listen to the views of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interest.”

Hello and welcome to The Guardian's live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.

The UN security council has expressed “great concern” after several UN peacekeepers were injured when they were attacked in southern Lebanon amid clashes between the Israeli army and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants. The council reiterated its support for the role of the peacekeeping mission in supporting regional security.

The council's statement on Monday was its first reaction to the escalation of attacks along the UN-drawn border between Israel and Lebanon, and to the firing on front-line positions of the peacekeeping force known as Unifil. .

“UN peacekeepers and facilities should never be the target of attack,” the 15-member council said in a statement adopted by consensus. He also urged all parties, without naming them, “to respect the safety of Unifil staff and UN facilities.”

Despite facing growing criticism over the attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu He rejected accusations that Israeli troops had deliberately harmed Unifil peacekeepers as “completely false” and reiterated a call for them to withdraw from combat zones near the border with Israel. He said Hezbollah used Unifil positions as cover for attacks that killed Israelis, including on Sunday, when a drone strike on a military base killed four soldiers.

“Israel has every right to defend itself against Hezbollah and will continue to do so,” Netanyahu said, adding that the best way to ensure the safety of Unifil staff was to “heed Israel's request and temporarily get out of danger.” UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre LacroixHe said peacekeepers would remain in all positions in Lebanon.

Israel is still expected to retaliate against Iran for its missile bombardment launched on October 1, but, according to the Washington Submit, Netanyahu has told the Biden administration that he is willing to attack military rather than oil or nuclear facilities there.

Citing sources, the Submit writes that this suggests Netanyahu is considering a more limited counterattack than previously thought.

• Italy, Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement on Monday condemning Israel for repeatedly attacking UN peacekeepers. “These attacks must stop immediately,” they said, adding that the deliberate attacks were against international law. spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez said there will be “no withdrawal” of the UN peacekeeping force from southern Lebanon after Israeli attacks and calls to leave the country. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Unifil's work “is very important. “It is completely unacceptable to attack United Nations troops.”

• More than 20 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Christian town in northern Lebanon on Monday., far from Hezbollah's power centers in Beirut and the south and east of the country. The bombing hit Aitou, a Maronite village near the northern city of Tripoli, hitting a small apartment building and killing 21 people, according to the Lebanese Red Cross. The town's mayor told Reuters that the building had been rented to families displaced by the war.

• It was also a particularly bloody 24 hours in the Gaza Strip. Four people were killed in an Israeli bombing of a hospital courtyard in central Gaza, another attack on a nearby school used as a shelter killed at least 20 people, and a drone strike killed five children playing in the street in the Gaza Strip. al-Shati camp in Gaza. City, according to local health authorities. The Israeli military said it was investigating reports of civilian casualties in the three incidents on Sunday and Monday.

• At least 42,289 Palestinians have been killed and 98,684 injured in Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023., the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Monday.

• Netanyahu is examining a plan to seal off humanitarian aid to northern Gaza in an attempt to starve Hamas.according to a report. The plan, proposed by a group of retired generals, would give Palestinians a week to leave the northern third of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, before declaring it a closed military zone. Those who remain would be considered combatants – meaning military regulations would allow troops to kill them – and they would be denied food, water, medicine and fuel, according to a copy of the plan provided to Related Press.

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the “large number of civilian casualties in the intensification of the Israeli campaign in northern Gaza.” his spokesperson said Monday. The UN chief “strongly urges all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and emphasizes that civilians must be respected and protected at all times,” said spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.

• Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Monday. said the Palestinian Ministry of Health. According to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, one of the men was 17 years old. Four other people were wounded by Israeli fire during the attack, he added.

• Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin accused Israel of trying to prevent the world from seeing what its troops are doing in Lebanon and Gaza.and working to undermine the UN. Asked what Israel's goal might be in demanding that U.N. peacekeepers abandon their bases in Lebanon after a series of attacks, Martin said: “essentially taking the eyes and ears out of southern Lebanon and give yourself free rein.”

• Officials from the main US humanitarian agency attend daily meetings at an Israeli military base that also houses a notorious prison for Palestinian detainees. where torture is reportedly rampant, The Guardian has learned.