Jerusalem:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the UN chief on Sunday to move peacekeepers deployed in south Lebanon out of “harm’s way”, saying Hezbollah was using them as “human shields”.

His call to UN chief Antonio Guterres came a day after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) repeated its refusal to withdraw from the border area after five of its members were wounded in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

“Mr Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately,” Netanyahu said in a video statement issued by his office.

Speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israeli forces had asked UNIFIL several times to leave, saying that the peacekeepers’ presence had “the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields”.

“Your refusal to evacuate the UNIFIL soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah. This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers,” the premier said.

“We regret the harm to UNIFIL soldiers and we are doing our utmost to prevent such harm. But the simplest and most obvious way to ensure this is simply to withdraw them from the danger zone.”

UNIFIL has refused to leave its positions in southern Lebanon.

“There was a unanimous decision to stay because it’s important for the UN flag to still fly high in this region, and to be able to report to the Security Council,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told AFP in an interview on Saturday.

He said Israel had asked UNIFIL to withdraw from positions “up to five kilometres (three miles) from the Blue Line” separating both countries, but the peacekeepers refused.

That would have included its 29 positions in south Lebanon.

‘New chapter’

UNIFIL, a mission of about 9,500 troops of various nationalities, was created following Israel’s 1978 invasion of Lebanon.

It is currently tasked with monitoring a ceasefire that ended a 33-day war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah.

Forty contributor nations to UNIFIL said on Saturday that they “strongly condemn recent attacks” on the peacekeepers.

“Such actions must stop immediately and should be adequately investigated,” said the joint statement, posted on X by the Polish UN mission and signed by nations including leading contributors Indonesia, Italy and India.

On Sunday, UNIFIL said it had demanded explanations from the Israeli army over what it said were “shocking violations” against their force, including forcing entry into one of their positions.

Earlier on Sunday morning Israeli tanks had “destroyed” a UNIFIL position and “forcibly entered” there, UNIFIL said.

But the Israeli military said a tank had collided with a UN peacekeeping post when it came under fire during an incident when multiple soldiers were injured.

Late Sunday, the Israeli military said that over the past month about 25 rockets and missiles had been launched at Israel from Hezbollah compounds “embedded near UNIFIL posts” in southern Lebanon.

It said one of the attacks even killed two Israeli soldiers, but did not specify when the incident happened.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the Israeli call on UNIFIL to abandon the south.

“The warning that Netanyahu addressed to… Guterres demanding the removal of the UNIFIL represents a new chapter in the enemy’s approach of not complying with international” norms, Mikati said. Earlier, Netanyahu said the criticism of Israel was misplaced and should be directed at Hezbollah. “Instead of criticising Israel, they should direct their criticism to Hezbollah, which uses UNIFIL as a human shield,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jerusalem:

The United Nations said on Sunday Israeli tanks had burst through the gates of a base of its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, the latest accusation of Israeli violations and attacks that have been denounced by Israel’s own allies.

The UNIFIL peacekeeping force said two Israeli Merkava tanks destroyed the main gate of a base and forcibly entered before dawn on Sunday morning. After the tanks left, shells exploded 100 metres (yards) away, releasing smoke which blew across the base and sickened UN personnel, causing 15 to require treatment despite wearing gas masks, it said in a statement.

In its version of events, the Israeli military said militants of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah had fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli troops, wounding 25 of them. The attack was very close to a UNIFIL post and a tank that was helping evacuate the casualties under fire then backed into the UNIFIL post.

“It is not storming a base. It is not trying to enter a base. It was a tank under heavy fire, mass casualty event, backing up to get out of harm’s way,” the military’s international spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani, told reporters.

In a statement, the military said it used a smoke screen to provide cover for the evacuation of the wounded soldiers but its actions posed no danger to the UN peackeeping force.

Five peacekeepers have been wounded in a series of strikes in recent days, most blamed by UNIFIL on Israeli forces.

The UN force said any deliberate attack on peacekeepers was “a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Resolution 1701” that established the mission.

Earlier on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a statement addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: “The time has come for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones.”

“The IDF has requested this repeatedly and has met with repeated refusal, which has the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields.”

Hezbollah, which Israel has been battling on the ground in southern Lebanon since it launched an incursion at the start of this month, denies Israel’s accusation that it uses the proximity of peacekeepers for protection.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah resumed a year ago when the Iranian-backed group began firing rockets at northern Israel in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war and has sharply escalated in recent weeks.

On Sunday, a drone attack wounded at least 20 people in the northern Israel town of Binyamina, N12 News television said.

‘UNACCEPTABLE’

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, typically one of Israel’s most vocal supporters among Western European leaders, spoke to Netanyahu by phone on Sunday and denounced the “unacceptable” Israeli attacks, her government said.

Netanyahu said he told Meloni that he regretted “any harm done to UNIFIL personnel” in Lebanon.

“Israel will make every effort to prevent UNIFIL casualties and will do what it takes to win the war,” he said on X.

Italy has more than a thousand troops in the 10,000-strong UNIFIL force, making it one of the biggest contributors of personnel. France and Spain, which each have nearly 700 soldiers in the force, have also condemned the Israeli attacks.

The presence of UNIFIL puts peacekeepers from 50 separate countries in harm’s way, in a force initially set up in southern Lebanon in 1978.

The area has seen decades of conflict, with Israel invading in 1982, occupying southern Lebanon until 2000 and again fighting a major five-week war against Hezbollah in 2006, which ended with a ceasefire monitored by UNIFIL.

Israel’s assault against Hezbollah over the past three weeks has uprooted 1.2 million Lebanese and inflicted an unprecedented blow on the group by killing most of its senior leadership.

Lebanon’s government says more than 2,100 people have been killed and 10,000 wounded in over a year of fighting, mainly over the past few weeks. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but includes scores of women and children.

Israeli officials say UNIFIL has failed in its mission of upholding UN Resolution 1701, passed after the 2006 war, which calls for the border area of southern Lebanon to be free of weapons or troops other than those of the Lebanese state.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a call with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday, expressed “deep concern” about reports Israeli forces had fired on peacekeeper positions. He urged Israel to ensure their safety and that of the Lebanese military, which is not party to Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah.

The Israeli military has already told UN peacekeepers to get out of the way, asking them weeks ago to prepare to relocate more than 5 km (3 miles) from the border, according to an excerpt from a message seen by Reuters.

HIGH ALERT

The Middle East meanwhile remains on high alert for Israel to retaliate against Iran for an October 1 barrage of long range missiles launched in response to Israel’s assaults on Lebanon.

Iran said on Sunday it has “no red lines” in defending itself. Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi’s comments appeared intended to counter suggestions that Iran would absorb an Israeli strike without a response, as it did earlier this year when Israel last struck Iran after a volley of Iranian missiles.

Later, Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh said Tehran was ready to respond to any Israeli action, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)