Live: Five Palestinian journalists killed, Gaza media office says

The European Union's member states have taken too long to condemn Israel's attacks on Unifil peacemakers in Lebanon, the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday, describing the attacks as "completely unacceptable".

"We should be against Israeli attacks against Unifil. Our soldiers are there, many soldiers are there," added Borrell, speaking at an EU ministerial meeting in Luxembourg.

EU countries, led by Italy, France and Spain, have thousands of troops in the 10,000-strong peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, which has said it has repeatedly come under attack from Israeli forces in recent days. Israel has called on the United Nations to move the troops out of the combat zone.

Reporting by Reuters

Israel's army chief said Monday a Hezbollah drone strike on a military training base that killed at least four soldiers at the weekend was "difficult and painful".

"We are at war, and an attack on a training base on the home front is difficult and the results are painful," Herzi Halevi told soldiers during a visit to the Golani Brigade training base that was hit Sunday night in the area of Binyamina, south of the city of Haifa.

A pre-dawn Israeli air strike hit the yards of the al-Aqsa Martyr's hospital in the central Gaza Strip's Deir al-Balah on Monday, causing a fire in makeshift tents used by displaced people. 

The fire engulfed several shelters while people slept inside. Eyewitness described civilians burning to death with people unable to stop the fire due to lack of equipment. 

At least four people were killed and 40 wounded, some seriously, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

The Gaza-based media office said this was the seventh Israeli attack on yards of the al-Aqsa Martyr's hospital.

All photos taken by Ramadan Abed for Reuters 

Hezbollah said its fighters fired artillery rounds at Israeli troops attempting an "infiltration" into south Lebanon on Monday, while also targeting soldiers elsewhere.

"During an enemy infantry force's attempted infiltration into Lebanese territory" near the border village of Markaba, Hezbollah fighters targeted the force "with artillery shells", a statement said, adding fighters targeted soldiers elsewhere with rockets, including in south Lebanon's Labbouneh area.

Reporting by AFP

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon, now in its 374th day:  

• Israeli confirmed that four soldiers were killed and around 60 others wounded in a Hezbollah drone strike that hit an army base near Haifa late on Sunday. The Lebanese group said more similar attacks will continue unless Israel stops its assault on Lebanon. 

• In Gaza, the Israeli military separated northern Gaza districts from Gaza City with earth mounds as drones fired at civilians attempting to move between the two adjoining governorates.

• Northern Gaza remains under siege and heavy Israeli attacks for the ninth day amid reports on Israeli media saying the latest assault could last months and aims to empty northern Gaza of Palestinian people and life. 

• Elsewhere, Israeli artillery shelling targeted a school used as shelter for Palestinian civilians in the Nuseirat refugee camp on Sunday night, killing at least 22 people, including children.