Israeli forces fired on two positions used by UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Thursday and at another one on Wednesday, the UN force said, as Israel pressed its assault on Hezbollah and told Lebanese civilians not to return to homes in the south.

The UNIFIL peacekeeping force said two of its peacekeepers were injured in one of the incidents, when an Israeli tank fired at an observation tower at the force's main headquarters in Naqoura, hitting the tower and causing them to fall. 

There were no casualties in the other two incidents, a UN source told Reuters.

"Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law," UNIFIL said in a statement, adding that it was following up with the Israeli military.

"The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital."

The statement also said IDF soldiers had fired on a bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, "damaging vehicles and a communications system".

"An IDF drone was observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance," it said, adding soldiers had "deliberately" fired at and disabled its perimeter-monitoring cameras.

"We remind the IDF and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times," it said.

"UNIFIL peacekeepers are present in south Lebanon to support a return to stability under Security Council mandate."

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which is waging a widening offensive in Lebanon against the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

UNIFIL's statement said recent escalation along the "Blue Line" demarcation separating Israel and Lebanon was causing "widespread destruction of towns and villages in south Lebanon, while rockets continue to be launched towards Israel, including civilian areas".

Air strike on school kills at least 28

An Israeli air strike on a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 28 people on Thursday — including women and children — while three hospitals in the north were told to evacuate, medics say.

Medics said 54 other people were wounded at the school in Deir Al-Balah, a city where about 1 million people have taken shelter after fleeing fighting elsewhere in Gaza.

The Israeli military said on Thursday it had carried out a "precise strike on terrorists". Hamas denies allegations it operates from civilian buildings such as schools.

In the north of the Gaza Strip, the IDF is pushing on with a six-day-old offensive that began when it sent troops into Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, and the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.

Palestinian health officials say at least 130 people have been killed so far in the operation, which Israel says is aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.

The military has told residents to evacuate an area in which the UN estimates more than 400,000 people are trapped.

The IDF told residents of Jabalia and nearby areas to head to humanitarian-designated zones in southern Gaza, but Palestinian and UN officials say there are no safe places to flee to in the densely populated enclave.

The head of UNRWA, the United Nations agency tasked with providing services to Palestinian refugees, told the UN Security Council: "Hundreds of thousands of people are again being pushed to move to the south, where living conditions are intolerable."

"Yet again, Gazans are teetering on the edge of a man-made famine," Philippe Lazzarini told the UNSC.

Residents said Israeli armed forces have encircled Jabalia from all directions, and had ordered them to leave through one corridor.

They said troops were interrogating those leaving and making arrests, while anyone trying to leave via a different route was being fired upon.

Hospital evacuation order puts ICU patients at risk

Health officials said the IDF on Wednesday gave patients and medics 24 hours to leave the Indonesian, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals, or risk being caught up in raids as happened earlier in the war at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Israel maintains Hamas has command facilities embedded in the hospitals, which Hamas denies.

Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya said eight patients, mostly children, were at risk inside his facility's intensive care units should the army force them to evacuate.

"Those children were injured with shrapnel all over their bodies, the upper parts and the brain. They are all in critical conditions and are hooked to oxygen systems," Mr Abu Safiya said.

"The hospital is also running out of fuel, and the occupation is refusing fuel to reach northern Gaza."

Mr Abu Safiya appealed to world countries to press Israel to allow medical staffers in northern Gaza's three hospitals to continue to operate, saying: "Our message is a message of peace for the sake of those children."

"We urge the world to allow us to continue [working] and permit all things needed so that we can provide safe medical care in northern Gaza," he said.

Israeli bombardment near Kamal Adwan Hospital has already caused some damage to the facility, according to medics.

Israel began its current offensive in Gaza after fighters from the militant group attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 42,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Israel's attack on Gaza, the Gaza health ministry says.

Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of the enclave has been laid to waste.

Israel strikes Lebanon-Syria crossing

Further north on Thursday, an Israeli air strike hit a road linking Syria and Lebanon, part of Israeli efforts to cut off Hezbollah's supply routes, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the group with a wide network of sources in Syria, said the strike took place on the Quseir region, on the Syrian side of the border.

There were no casualties and it was not immediately clear if the road had been cut off in the strike, he said.

Israel has increased its strikes on Syria since it upped its air raids on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon more than two weeks ago, notably killing the leader of the Lebanese militant group.

Increased Israeli air strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon have killed more than 1,200 people and displaced over 1 million from their homes, according to Lebanese government figures.

More than 400,000 people have fled Lebanon into Syria.

UN inquiry accuses Israel of 'extermination'

A United Nations inquiry said on Thursday it found that Israel had carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza's healthcare system in the Gaza war, actions amounting to both war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination.

Navi Pillay, a former UN high commissioner for human rights who authored the inquiry's report, accused Israel of "relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities" throughout the conflict.

"Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system," Mr Pillay said.

The UN inquiry's statement also accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing and torturing medical personnel, targeting medical vehicles and restricting permits for patients to leave the Gaza Strip.

As an example, it cited the death of Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in February, along with family members and two medics who came to rescue her from under Israeli fire.

The statement said the treatment of both Palestinian detainees in Israel and hostages seized by Hamas fighters in the October 7 attack had been investigated, and it accused both sides of involvement in torture and sexual violence.

The full report will be presented to the UN General Assembly on October 30.

Reuters/AFP