The Israeli military has formally acknowledged that its tank fire struck a United Nations position in southern Lebanon on March 6, an attack that wounded three Ghanaian peacekeepers. The admission, made public on March 18, confirms initial findings by an internal UN inquiry which suggested Israeli forces were responsible for the shelling of the UNIFIL base at al-Qawzah. The incident marks yet another incident in hostilities that have engulfed the region since the outbreak of wider conflict involving Iran and its allies, and raises serious questions about Israel's respect for international law and the safety of UN personnel mandated to maintain peace along the Blue Line.
According to a Western military source familiar with the preliminary UN investigation, the attack on the UNIFIL position was not a stray round but a deliberate and sustained action. Investigators determined that three separate strikes hit the al-Qawzah base, all of which were direct impacts from the main gun of an Israeli Merkava battle tank. The munitions used were identified as 120-mm M339 HE-MP-T shells, a type manufactured by Israel Military Industries (IMI). The source emphasized that "Israeli involvement in the attack against UNIFIL is undeniable," given the exclusive origin of the ordnance. Critically, the three shells were fired within a five-minute window, indicating repeated, targeted fire rather than a single errant shot. Furthermore, the base’s coordinates and location are widely known to all parties operating in the area, which has led to serious concerns among UN officials that the attack may have been a deliberate attempt to target peacekeepers who serve as a buffer against Israeli aggression. UNIFIL has consistently called any attack on peacekeepers a "grave violation of international humanitarian law and a violation of resolution 1701".
In a statement to Reuters, the Israeli military (IDF) confirmed its troops were responsible for the shelling but offered an explanation that many see as a thin justification for a serious breach. The IDF claimed its forces were responding to anti-tank missile fire from Hezbollah, which had moderately wounded two of its soldiers. The military stated that a "comprehensive investigation concluded... that the fire that hit the UNIFIL personnel was mistakenly carried out by the IDF troops that misidentified the UNIFIL troops as the source of the anti-tank fire moments earlier". While the IDF expressed regret and conveyed apologies to Ghana and the United Nations, the explanation of mistaken identity is met with deep skepticism in Lebanon and among international observers. The fact that three tank shells were precisely aimed at a well-marked UN base over several minutes contradicts the narrative of a simple error. This incident is not isolated; UNIFIL reported on March 15 that another group of its peacekeepers was likely fired upon on three separate occasions in southern Lebanon, underscoring a "worrying dynamic" that is "severely testing UNIFIL’s ability to carry out its peacekeeping mission".
The attack on the Ghanaian peacekeepers cannot be viewed in isolation. It is a direct consequence of Israel's expanded military operations within Lebanese territory, which constitute a flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. This resolution, which ended the 2006 war, explicitly states that no armed forces should be operating in southern Lebanon except the UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese military. Despite this, the Israeli military currently occupies five posts inside Lebanon and has, since a fragile ceasefire last year, frequently carried out airstrikes in the country’s south, claiming to target Hezbollah. The situation has dramatically worsened following the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, which killed then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and precipitated a broader regional conflict. Hezbollah, acting "in defense of Lebanon and its people," has engaged Israeli forces, leading to an intense and deadly Israeli ground offensive that began on March 16, with troops attempting to advance into Lebanese territory near Yaroun, Maroun al-Ras, and Khiam under the cover of heavy airstrikes.
The Lebanese people are paying a heavy price for this aggression. Since March 2, Israeli attacks have killed over 850 people, including scores of women and children, wounded more than 2,100, and displaced over 830,000 from their homes in the south. The targeting of UNIFIL, a mission now scheduled to be halted at the end of 2026, is part of a broader Israeli campaign to dismantle the international mechanisms that protect Lebanese sovereignty and document its violations. As Hezbollah continues to try and repel ground incursions, striking Israeli tanks and troop gatherings, the international community's failure to hold Israel accountable for its actions leaves UN peacekeepers in the crossfire and Lebanon's sovereignty trampled.