According to UNIFIL reports, there were no incidents of rocket firing or aerial bombardment in the UNIFIL area of operations since 4am this morning, except in the area of At Tayyabah in the eastern sector, where two air strikes were reported around 10am. It seems that IDF forces maintain their presence in two locations inside Lebanese territory, in the general area of Marun Al Ras in the central sector, and the general area of Kafr Kila in the eastern sector. It was reported that some of the IDF forces withdrew from the area of Marun Al Ras yesterday evening. The situation in these areas is relatively quiet this morning, and there are no reports of serious fighting. Read more about Two Israeli tank rounds hit UNIFIL position in Hula 

Addressing a meeting of the United Nations Security Council today, Lebanon’s acting Foreign Minister urged an immediate series of steps aimed at quelling the violence there, while Israel’s representative said his country was acting in self-defence and called for the authorities in Beirut to take control of their entire nation. Tarek Mitri decried the recent unabated attacks by Israel and asked for an international investigation into the “crime of Qana” where over 50 civilians were killed this weekend. “The spilled blood of the children in Qana deserves more, much more, than expressions of regret.” Israel should withdraw its troops behind the Blue Line and the displaced should return to their villages. Read more about Addressing Security Council, Lebanese minister urges steps to end violence 

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is alarmed by the increasing number of civilian casualties resulting from the ongoing armed conflict. In today’s military operations by the Israel Defense Forces against the village of Qana, a building sheltering civilians was directly hit. At the time of writing, the Lebanese Red Cross Society and the Lebanese Civil Defense have extracted 28 bodies from the rubble, 19 of whom are children. Issuing advance warning to the civilian population of impending attacks in no way relieves a warring party of its obligations under the rules and principles of international humanitarian law. Read more about ICRC alarmed by high number of civilian casualties and disrespect for international humanitarian law 

Just hours after United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan convened a Security Council meeting on the latest violence in Lebanon, the 15-member body deplored last night’s Israeli attack on the village of Qana, where over 50 civilians, mostly children, were reported killed. “The Security Council expresses its extreme shock and distress at the shelling by the Israeli Defense Forces of a residential building in Qana, in southern Lebanon, which has caused the killing of dozens of civilians, mostly children, and injured many others,” Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere of France, which holds the Council’s rotating presidency this month, said in a formal statement. Read more about Security Council deplores Israeli attack on Qana, urges all sides to grant access 

Responsibility for the Israeli airstrikes that killed at least 54 civilians sheltering in a home in the Lebanese village of Qana rests squarely with the Israeli military, Human Rights Watch said today. It is the latest product of an indiscriminate bombing campaign that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have waged in Lebanon over the past 18 days, leaving an estimated 750 people dead, the vast majority of them civilians. “Today’s strike on Qana, killing at least 54 civilians, more than half of them children, suggests that the Israeli military is treating southern Lebanon as a free-fire zone,” said HRW’s Kenneth Roth. Read more about Israel Responsible for Qana Attack: Indiscriminate Bombing in Lebanon a War Crime 

With heavy fighting continuing in southern Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) there today again protested firing in the vicinity - which caused material damage and lightly wounded two blue helmets - to both the Israeli and Lebanese authorities. Five aerial rockets from the Israeli side impacted between 5 to 20 meters of a UNIFIL position in the area of Addaisseh yesterday afternoon, the mission reported. One exploded in the air above the position and two UNIFIL soldiers from the Indian battalion were moderately wounded and evacuated to the UNIFIL hospital in Ibil As Saqy. One artillery round from the Israeli side impacted directly inside the UNIFIL position in Mays Al Jabal. Read more about UN force in Lebanon again lodges protests as firing continues in its vicinity