UN Peacekeepers Targeted in Lebanon After Israeli Strike Kills Hamas Official

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon peacekeepers said they were fired upon “likely by non-state armed groups” in southern Lebanon on Sunday, while a source from Hamas said an Israeli strike killed one of the group’s officials.

Israel also said no direct talks were planned with Lebanon to end the latest war with the militant group Hezbollah, which has been raging for about two weeks.

The statement came a day after a Lebanese official said Beirut was preparing a delegation to negotiate with Israel.

Lebanon was drawn deeper into the Middle East conflict on March 2 when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel following the killing of Ali Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes. Israel subsequently launched air raids on Lebanon and carried out troop incursions into border areas.

Lebanese authorities said the death toll from Israeli attacks had risen to 850, while more than 830,000 people had registered as displaced, including about 130,000 sheltering in collective facilities.

Heavy rains on Sunday worsened conditions for displaced people, hundreds of whom have been sleeping in tents or open areas near central Beirut’s seafront.

A coffee shop owner identified as Nader, 42, who was displaced from Beirut’s southern suburbs, said he had rebuilt his home after the previous Israel-Hezbollah conflict in 2024 and now feared it had again been destroyed.

“Here we have nothing and the situation is very bad with the heavy rains and wind — it’s very cold, lots of babies are sick and we can’t protect them,” he told AFP.

UNIFIL said its peacekeepers were fired upon three times on Sunday in southern Lebanon, “likely by non-state armed groups.” The incident came two days after another position was hit by fire that Lebanon’s official National News Agency had blamed on Israel.

The agency also reported Israeli strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon on Sunday, while Hezbollah said it had carried out a series of attacks on Israeli positions and troops in southern Lebanon.

The group added that its fighters fired an “advanced missile” at the Palmachim Airbase.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israel struck “an apartment in a residential building” in a northern district of the coastal city of Sidon, killing one person and sparking a fire.

An AFP correspondent reported damage to the apartment building as the army cordoned off the area while rescue teams battled the blaze and residents rushed out carrying belongings.

A Hamas source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the person killed was a group official named Wissam Taha.

Israel has repeatedly targeted Hamas positions in Lebanon in recent years, including during previous hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that erupted during the Gaza war and after a ceasefire in 2024.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had proposed direct negotiations with Israel, but Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday dismissed the possibility when asked whether such talks were planned.

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen instead called for the cancellation of a U.S.-brokered 2022 maritime border agreement with Lebanon, saying a “vague promise” of improved security for Israel under the deal “was not fulfilled.”

A Lebanese official had earlier told AFP that the country was preparing to form a delegation for negotiations with Israel, though no agenda, timing, or location had been determined.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron said the Lebanese government was ready to engage in direct talks with Israel and offered to host the negotiations.

Israel’s military also renewed evacuation warnings for Beirut’s southern suburbs, areas it has repeatedly targeted during the latest fighting.

In southern Beirut, an AFP photographer reported empty streets strewn with debris and flattened buildings, with smoke still rising from areas struck in recent days.

Lebanon’s health ministry said an overnight Israeli strike killed three people in the village of Al-Qatrani, while the Israeli military said it had targeted several Hezbollah launch sites there.

The Israeli army also said it destroyed command centres belonging to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force in Beirut.