German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (3rd R) speaks with with her counterparts in Berlin on October 21, 2024. Photo by RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP.
Beirut, Lebanon: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned on Wednesday that "Lebanon is on the brink of collapse" as she arrived in the war-torn country for a visit.
As Israel pounds Lebanon, she said that "any deliberate attack on UN peacekeepers violates international humanitarian law".
Baerbock was on her 12th trip to the Middle East since October 7 last year.
"The humanitarian situation in Lebanon is becoming more desperate by the day," she said at the start of her trip, which Berlin had not previously announced because of security concerns.
"Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing with their last belongings, children are being separated from their parents, hospitals are working at the limit of their capacity.
"Lebanon is on the brink of collapse."
She cautioned that Israel must operate within "the narrow limits of the right to self-defence and international humanitarian law".
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon has called out Israel for attacking its peacekeepers multiple times in recent weeks.
"All parties to the conflict also have an obligation to protect UN peacekeepers," said Baerbock.
"The soldiers of UNIFIL have our full support. They are needed for a political solution to the conflict.
"Any deliberate attack on UN peacekeepers violates international humanitarian law."
Israel's offensive has killed 42,718 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to figures from the Gazan health ministry which the UN considers reliable.
Israel shifted its focus to Lebanon in late September.
