Nicaragua breaks off ties with Israel

Nicaragua on Friday announced plans to break off relations with Israel over the war in Gaza, calling the Israeli government "fascist and genocidal."

Left-wing President Daniel Ortega, who has been fiercely critical of Israel's yearlong war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, ordered ties to be cut over Israel's attacks on Palestinian territories, said Vice President Rosario Murillo, who is also Ortega's wife.

The move is an essentially symbolic one, with ties between Israel and the central American country virtually nonexistent.

Israel has no ambassador in the Nicaraguan capital Managua.

Nicaragua has twice before broken off ties with Israel -- once in 2010 under Ortega as well as in 1982 under the Sandinista revolutionary government led by Ortega following the country's 1979 revolution.

Irish PM demands Israel 'stop firing' at UN peacekeepers

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris on Saturday urged Israel to heed "the concerns of the international community" and not repeat recent firing on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

"Israel must stop firing on UN peacekeepers serving with UNIFIL in Lebanon," Ireland's leader said in a statement, his latest comments on the recent incidents that have sparked a fierce diplomatic backlash.

"Israel must listen to the voice and the concerns of the international community," he added.

Ireland accounts for 347 of the 10,000 soldiers serving in the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, which is charged with maintaining peace in the south of Lebanon.

Israel said its forces fired at a threat near a UNIFIL position in Lebanon Friday, acknowledging that a "hit" was responsible for wounding two Blue Helmets.

The two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were hurt at UNIFIL's main base in Naqura, southern Lebanon, according to the mission.

It follows two Indonesian soldiers suffering injuries when tank fire hit a watchtower the previous day, the mission said.

The Irish Defence Forces has said none of its staff were hurt in Thursday's incident.

Harris, who visited US President Joe Biden earlier in the week, said in the statement he and Biden "agreed that those who serve in Blue Helmets on behalf of the UN must always be afforded full protection".