Kenya and Haiti urge partners to boost support for peacekeeping mission amid a funding shortfall

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The leaders of Kenya and Haiti on Friday urged international partners to honor their commitment to the U.N.-backed peacekeeping mission in Haiti, saying the mission needs more resources and that its budget will run out in March 2025.

Kenya, which leads the mission to quell gang violence in the Caribbean nation, has sent nearly 400 officers. They are joined by nearly two dozen police officers and soldiers from Jamaica, but the numbers fall significantly short of the 2,500 pledged by various countries, including Chad, Benin, Bangladesh and Barbados, for the mission.

Kenyan President William Ruto, who met with Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille in Nairobi on Friday, said Kenya would deploy 600 additional officers next month.

The U.N. has $85 million in pledges for the mission, of which $68 million has been received.

“We have a window of success that is evident from the operations that have been carried out already,” Ruto said.

Conille asked international partners to send the officers they'd pledged to ensure the “contingent from Kenya has the resources they need.”

Conille said his regular meetings with the Kenyan commander were filled with words of encouragement that the fight against Haiti's gangs "is winnable.”

The gangs in Haiti have grown in power since the July 7, 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and are now estimated to control up to 80% of the capital. The surge in killings, rapes and kidnappings has led to a violent uprising by civilian vigilante groups.

A U.N. Security Council voted unanimously in early October to extend the mandate of the Kenya-led multinational force, after brushing off a call from Haiti to start talks on transforming it into a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille, left, and Kenya's President William Ruto, right, give a joint press conference at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille, left, and Kenya's President William Ruto, right, shake hands after a joint press conference at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille, left, and Kenya's President William Ruto, right, give a joint press conference at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Kenya's President William Ruto, speaks during a joint press conference with Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille, speaks during a joint press conference with Kenya's President William Ruto at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille, left, and Kenya's President William Ruto, right, shake hands after a joint at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille, speaks during a joint press conference with Kenya's President William Ruto at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Kenya's President William Ruto, speaks during a joint press conference with Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille, left, and Kenya's President William Ruto, right, walk to give a joint press conference during their meeting at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille, left, and Kenya's President William Ruto, right, walk to give a joint press conference at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Cross-border fire killed a young man from Thailand in the north of Israel early Friday, a day after Israeli strikes in Lebanon left dozens of people dead in Beirut and wounded two U.N. peacekeepers.

At least 22 people were killed and 117 wounded in Israeli airstrikes that hit two areas in central Beirut, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

In southern Lebanon, meanwhile, the U.N. peacekeeping force said an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers, who were hospitalized.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

A year ago, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023.

Here is the latest:

VIENTIANE, Laos — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday gave support to Israel’s escalated campaign against Hezbollah, saying it had “clear and legitimate” reasons, but said the U.S. is trying to find a diplomatic solution to the war.

“When the horror of Oct. 7 happened, the next day Hezbollah joined in, trying to create another front in the process,” he told a news conference after attending an annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Laos.

He said Israel has a “clear and very legitimate interest” in trying to allow the return of its citizens who were evacuated from their homes in northern Israel because of Hezbollah fire. “The people of Lebanon want the same thing,” he said, referring to Lebanese who fled homes near the border to escape Israeli bombardment.

“We believe that the best way to get there is through a diplomatic understanding, one that we’ve been working on for some time and one that we’re extremely focused on right now,” he said.

Blinken said it was also important that civilians are protected amid fighting in Lebanon and Gaza, adding that not enough humanitarian aid is reaching north Gaza and other areas.

JERUSALEM — Cross-border fire from Lebanon killed a young worker from Thailand in the north of Israel early Friday, Israel’s military said.

Israel's military said that the 27-year-old was killed by a rocket that hit farmland. The Thai Embassy in Israel and Israel's paramedic service said he was killed by an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon. The two accounts could not immediately be reconciled.

The man was a farmworker on Kibbutz Yir'on, a communal farm in the north, the embassy said in a Facebook post Friday. The attack also “severely traumatized” another worker.

The embassy was working on getting in touch with the man’s family, a spokesperson for Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a news conference in Bangkok.

The Israeli military said two other civilians were injured in the same incident Friday. Hezbollah claimed one missile attack on a military position in the north Friday morning.

Hezbollah and other militants in Lebanon have been exchanging fire with Israel for the past year. Israel recently escalated bombardment in Lebanon and invaded a strip inside the Lebanese border, vowing to push out Hezbollah fighters.

Friday’s strike was one of the first civilian deaths in Israel since the escalation began in late September. Two Israelis were killed by rocket debris Wednesday. On the Lebanese side, Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,400 people in the past three weeks, including fighters, civilians and medical personnel.

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey condemned Israel’s attack on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, characterizing it as “a manifestation of its perception that its crimes go unpunished.”

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said in a statement Thursday that its headquarters and positions “have been repeatedly hit” by Israeli forces. Two UNIFIL troops were wounded in the attacks.

The Israeli military acknowledged opening fire at a U.N. base in southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it had ordered the peacekeepers to “remain in protected spaces.”

“The international community is obliged to ensure that Israel abides by international law,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement released late Thursday. “We will continue to support all initiatives within the framework of international law to promote peace in the region.

Turkey contributes to UNIFIL Maritime Task Force with a corvette and five personnel, the ministry said.

A man checks his destroyed house at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Lebanese women pass destroyed buildings at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Lebanese women pass the destroyed buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Rescue workers use an excavator to clear the rubble of destroyed buildings as they search for victims at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Rescue workers clear the rubble of destroyed buildings as they search for victims at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Rescue workers stand in front of destroyed buildings, as they prepare to start search for victims at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A woman passes in front of destroyed cars at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A man uses his mobile phone as flames and smoke rise at the scene of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)