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Israel agrees probe into Spanish soldier’s death

Spain and Israel have agreed to carry out a joint investigation on the death of a Spanish UN peacekeeper who was killed in Lebanon during Israeli shelling near the border, Madrid said on Friday.

Published: 30 January 2015 22:24 CET

The soldier was killed on Wednesday when the Israeli military shelled border areas following a Hezbollah attack that left two Israeli soldiers dead, Spanish authorities said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telephoned his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy "to express his condolences and sadness at the death in Lebanon of Corporal Francisco Javier Soria Toledo", Rajoy's office said in a statement.

"Both leaders agreed to carry out a joint Israeli-Spanish investigation to clarify what happened and to collaborate with the investigation being carried out by the United Nations."

The 36-year-old corporal was part of the 10,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, which includes 600 Spanish soldiers. Spain's ambassador to the UN, Roman Oyarzun, told reporters on Wednesday that Soria had been killed by Israeli fire.

Israel responded with air and ground attacks on southern Lebanon after a Hezbollah missile attack killed two Israeli soldiers.

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'The war must end now': UN Sec-Gen meets Swedish PM in Stockholm

After a bilateral meeting with Magdalena Andersson on the security situation in Europe, Guterres warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could lead to a global food crisis that would hurt some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

“It is causing immense suffering, destruction and devastation of the country. But it also inflames a three-dimensional global crisis in food, energy and finance that is pummelling the most vulnerable people, countries and economies,” the Portuguese diplomat told a joint press conference with Andersson.

He stressed the need for “quick and decisive action to ensure a steady flow of food and energy,” including “lifting export restrictions, allocating surpluses and reserves to vulnerable populations and addressing food price increases to calm market volatility.”

Between the two, Russia and Ukraine produce around 30 percent of the global wheat supply.

Guterres was in Stockholm to take part in the Stockholm 50+ conference, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.

The conference, which was held on the suggestion of the Swedish government in 1972 was the first UN meeting to discuss human impacts on the global environment, and led to the establishment of the UN Environment Program (UNEP).

At the joint press conference, Andersson said that discussions continued between Sweden and Turkey over the country’s continuing opposition to Sweden’s application to join the Nato security alliance.

“We have held discussions with Turkey and I’m looking forward to continuing the constructive meetings with Turkey in the near future,” she said, while refusing to go into detail on Turkey’s demands.

“We are going to take the demands which have been made of Sweden directly with them, and the same goes for any misunderstandings which have arisen,” she said.

At the press conference, Guterres condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine as “a violation of its territorial integrity and a violation of the UN Charter”.

“The war must end now,” he said.

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