UNIFIL: Dropping chemicals by the Israeli army is unacceptable

UNIFIL added in a statement that the Israeli army said that peacekeepers must stay away and remain under roofs, which forced them to cancel more than a dozen activities.

She explained that peacekeepers were unable to carry out normal operations along about a third of the length of the Blue Line, and were not able to resume their normal activities until more than nine hours had passed. The peacekeepers assisted the Lebanese Armed Forces in collecting samples to be tested for toxicity.

UNIFIL said that the Israeli military’s deliberate and planned actions not only limited the ability of peacekeepers to carry out their assigned activities, but also potentially endangered their health and the health of civilians. It also raised concerns about the effects of this unknown chemical on local farmland, and how this could impact civilians’ return to their homes and livelihoods in the long term.

UNIFIL said that this is not the first time that the Israeli army has dropped unknown chemicals from its aircraft over Lebanon. She added that she continues to remind the Israeli army that the flights carried out by its aircraft over Lebanon constitute a violation of Resolution 1701, and that any activity that exposes peacekeepers and civilians to danger constitutes a source of grave concern.

The Israeli army called once again to stop all these activities and to work with peacekeeping forces to support the stability that everyone is working to achieve.