Multiple nations call for ‘urgent end to hostilities in Lebanon’

Canada, the UK, Australia, Japan and six other countries condemned the killings of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon on Tuesday while calling "for an urgent end to hostilities" in the country where Israeli attacks have killed over 2,000 people since March.



"Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Sierra Leone, Switzerland and the United Kingdom remain deeply concerned by the worsening humanitarian situation and displacement crisis in Lebanon," the countries said in a joint statement without directly mentioning U.S. ally Israel or Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.



The statement comes after the deaths of three Indonesian peacekeepers last month. The U.N. has said preliminary findings from its probe showed one was killed by an Israeli tank projectile and two by an improvised explosive device most likely placed by Hezbollah.



Israel intensified air attacks on Lebanon after Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on March 2, three days into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.



Israel has since widened a ground invasion into Lebanon's south, ordering hundreds of thousands of Lebanese to flee villages. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 2,000 people and forced 1.2 million from their homes, according to Lebanese authorities.