Israel-Gaza-Lebanon updates: Netanyahu calls UN troops Hezbollah 'human shields'

Forty countries whose soldiers serve as U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon said they "strongly condemn" recent attacks on peacekeepers, in a joint statement released on Saturday.

The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, India and China were among the co-signatories.

"Such actions must stop immediately and should be adequately investigated," the statement said.

Poland's mission to the U.N. shared the statement on social media after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon reported a fifth member of the peacekeeping force was injured in southern Lebanon on Friday.

-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday and "expressed his deep concern about reports that Israeli forces fired on UN peacekeeping positions in Lebanon as well as by the reported death of two Lebanese soldiers," the White House said in a statement.

The Secretary strongly emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety and security of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFL) and Lebanese Armed Forces and "reinforced the need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible," according to the White House.

However, Austin reaffirmed the "United States' unwavering, enduring, and ironclad commitment to Israel's security," the statement said.

A convoy of nine ambulances evacuated 18 critical patients Saturday from Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Doctors did not leave Kamal Adwan Hospital with the convoy, and that staff remains to treat many patients who remain at the hospital, health ministry officials told ABC News.

The convoy was coordinated by the Red Cross, according to the health ministry.

Officials from the Israel Defense Forces told ABC News IDF forces also assisted the convoy, which was canceled for three consecutive days for "security reasons."

-ABC News' Victoria Beaulé, Samy Zyara and Dorit Long

The Lebanese government said 78 Israeli airstrikes were recorded over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of strikes this week to 524.

A total of 2,255 people have been killed and another 10,524 people have been injured in Lebanon since the conflict began, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. About 1,660 of those deaths have been since the conflict escalated in mid-September, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.

Among those killed are 127 children and 94 health care workers, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.

-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz