ROME — Israeli forces have acted illegally by shooting at positions used by United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in Lebanon, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Thursday (Oct 10), denouncing it as a possible war crime.

The UN peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel — an area that has seen serious clashes between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.

UNIFIL said two of its peacekeepers were injured when Israeli soldiers fired on its positions on both Wednesday and Thursday.

"This was not a mistake and not an accident," Crosetto told a news conference. "It could constitute a war crime and represented a very serious violation of international humanitarian law," he said.

Crosetto said he had contacted his Israeli counterpart to protest and had also summoned the Israeli ambassador to Italy to demand an explanation, which was not yet forthcoming.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

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