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JERUSALEM: The United Nations and France on Monday condemned Israeli fire near UN peacekeeping troops in southern Lebanon, after an incident during which peacekeepers neutralized an Israeli reconnaissance drone.
“We are very concerned about the incident that occurred on Sunday in which an Israeli drone dropped a grenade in the vicinity of a UNIFIL patrol, and subsequently an Israeli tank fired a shot at the peacekeepers in Kfar Kila in the UNIFIL area of operations,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, referring to the incident in southern Lebanon.
“Our colleagues at UNIFIL are in touch with the IDF to protest vehemently what has happened. It’s not the first time that we feel we’ve been targeted in different ways by the IDF (including) pointing lasers or warning shots. It’s very, very dangerous,” he said.
The UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL works with the Lebanese army to enforce the ceasefire agreement that ended more than a year of conflict between Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and Israel.
According to a French diplomatic source, the UNIFIL troops involved in Sunday’s incident were French.
“France condemns the Israeli fire that targeted a UNIFIL detachment on October 26, 2025,” the French foreign ministry said in a separate statement.
It said that “these incidents follow those observed on October 1, 2, and 11, when the Israeli army had already targeted UNIFIL positions.”
On Sunday, UNIFIL said an Israeli drone flew over its patrol in an “aggressive manner.”
“The peacekeepers applied necessary defensive countermeasures to neutralize the drone,” it said in a statement.
The incident “shows disregard for safety and security of the peacekeepers implementing Security Council mandated tasks in southern Lebanon,” it said.
UNIFIL later said another Israeli drone came close to its patrol operating near Kfar Kila and dropped a grenade.
“Moments later, an Israeli tank fired a shot toward the peacekeepers. Fortunately, no injury or damage was caused to the UNIFIL peacekeepers and assets,” the statement added.

Drone ‘deliberately’ shot down

The Israeli army still occupies five positions in southern Lebanon, along the border with northern Israel, and despite the ceasefire continues to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory, claiming to target Hezbollah.
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said on X earlier on Monday that “an intelligence-gathering drone was downed in the area of Kfar Kila.”
“An initial inquiry suggests that UNIFIL forces stationed nearby deliberately fired at the drone and downed it. The drone’s activity did not pose a threat to UNIFIL forces,” Shoshani wrote.
As part of last year’s ceasefire deal, Israeli troops were to withdraw from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah was to pull back north of the Litani River and dismantle any military infrastructure in the south.
According to the agreement, only the Lebanese army and UNIFIL are to be deployed in the south of the country.
Under US pressure and fearing an escalation of Israeli strikes, the Lebanese government has moved to begin disarming Hezbollah, a plan the movement and its allies oppose.
Despite the terms of the truce, Israel has kept troops deployed in five border points it deems strategic.
Israel has also intensified strikes in recent weeks, with several deadly attacks launched over the past few days.

NEW YORK CITY: The UN on Monday urged warring military faction the Rapid Support Forces to allow civilians in Sudan to flee the besieged city of El-Fasher, and to grant safe passage for humanitarian aid. Intensified fighting has left thousands trapped in life-threatening conditions, it warned.

Denise Brown, the UN’s resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said the UN had received “multiple reports of intensification of fighting in El-Fasher” over the past 24 hours, though she could not confirm claims that the RSF had taken full control of the city.

“The RSF needs to demonstrate respect for international humanitarian law and let those people leave. Alternatively, they need to let us in,” she added.

Several hundred people arrived on Sunday near Tawila, a humanitarian hub about 50 kilometers west of El-Fasher, after a perilous journey marked by militia roadblocks and ransom demands, Brown said. Many were dehydrated, malnourished, injured and traumatized.

“Civilians remain in El-Fasher and continue to try to flee but the roads they are taking are unsafe,” she added. “Those who arrive are deeply affected not only by that journey but also by the conditions inside El-Fasher.”

The city, which has been under blockade for more than 500 days, is cut off from humanitarian assistance. Brown said the UN’s Human Rights Office has received “a multitude of reports of summary executions of unarmed men and civilians in El-Fasher,” and the intensified fighting dramatically increases the risks to those who remain trapped there.

More than 128 humanitarian workers have been killed in Sudan since the civil war began in April 2023, according to the UN. Brown said access has repeatedly been denied for aid convoys, and local humanitarian volunteers have been killed in El-Fasher in recent days.

She described the situation as “ugly,” citing patterns of sexual violence, including rape, sexual slavery and torture, largely attributed to the RSF in Darfur.

“The blockade of humanitarian assistance, and food aid in particular, is tantamount to using starvation as a weapon of war,” she added.

The UN’s response is severely hampered by funding shortfalls, Brown warned, with only 27 percent of the required amount received so far this year.

“The humanitarian response is not a solution to this situation; a political solution absolutely needs to be found,” she added.

She also expressed concern about renewed fighting in the Kordofan region, where a large UN aid convoy is attempting to reach civilians caught up in clashes around the town of Barah.

“None of this is good news,” Brown said. “The humanitarian community is doing its utmost to prevent further suffering, but we require guarantees of safe passage to do our work.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described reports of the capture of El-Fasher by the RSF as marking “a terrible escalation of the conflict.” He stressed that it was “high time for the international community to speak clearly to all countries interfering in the war and providing weapons to the warring parties,” and urge them to stop.

Stephane Dujarric, the secretary-general’s spokesperson, said Guterres believes “the problem is not only the fighting between the army and the RSF, but also the growing external interference that undermines prospects for a ceasefire and a political solution.”