NEW YORK, (PIC)
The UN said that preliminary findings from its probe into the deaths of three Indonesian peacekeepers in Lebanon last month showed that one was killed by an Israeli tank projectile and two by an improvised explosive that could have been placed by Hezbollah fighters.
“These are preliminary findings, based on initial physical evidence,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a news briefing on Tuesday, adding that a full investigation was underway with engagement with the parties concerned.
Dujarric called the incidents “unacceptable” and said they could amount to war crimes under international law.
He added that the UN had requested that the cases be investigated and prosecuted by national authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The Indonesian peacekeepers were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon on March 29 and 30 after a bloody weekend in which Lebanese journalists and medics were also killed in Israeli strikes.
Indonesia has urged the UN to thoroughly investigate in light of the preliminary findings, Veronica Rompis, a senior foreign ministry official, told reporters on Wednesday, adding that all perpetrators should be brought to justice.
In another incident, bombardment in southern Lebanon on Tuesday forced a convoy of humanitarian aid organized by the Vatican’s embassy for a besieged Christian town to turn back, a priest in the town told Reuters.
Also on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the peacekeeping force, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, said the Israeli army had intercepted a UNIFIL logistics convoy and briefly detained one of its peacekeepers.
