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

His appeal to UN chief Antonio Guterres came a day after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon refused to withdraw from the border area despite five of its members being injured amid recent fighting.

“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, in his first comments on the issue.

Speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting, he said Israeli forces had asked UNIFIL several times to leave but it had “met with repeated refusals” that provided a “human shield to Hezbollah terrorists”.

“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.

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.

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, just as Hamas in Gaza uses UNRWA as a human shield,” he said of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

“Unfortunately, UNRWA also cooperates with Hamas there.”

In January, Israel accused a dozen of UNRWA’s Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.

A series of probes found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA, and determined that nine employees “may have been involved” in the attack.

AFP

The Israeli military on Saturday warned residents of south Lebanon “not to return” to their homes as troops continued fighting Hezbollah militants in the area.

Israeli forces continue to “target Hezbollah posts in or near your villages”, military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.

“For your own protection, do not return to your homes until further notice. Do not go south; anyone who goes south may put his life at risk.”

In a separate post, Adraee reiterated an earlier call for health workers and medical teams in southern Lebanon to avoid using ambulances, claiming they are being used by Hezbollah fighters.

“We call on medical teams to avoid contact with Hezbollah members and not to cooperate with them,” he said.

“The IDF (Israeli military) affirms that the necessary actions will be taken against any vehicle transporting armed individuals, regardless of its type.”

Israel is engaged in a multi-front war as it continues to battle Palestinian militants in Gaza.

In recent days, the military has launched an intense ground and air assault in northern Gaza, particularly in and around the city of Jabalia.

On Saturday, Adraee called on residents of the area around Sheikh Radwan, south of Jabalia refugee camp, to evacuate.

“The specified area, including the shelters within it, is considered a dangerous combat zone,” Adraee said on X, ordering residents to move to the humanitarian zone in the southern part of the strip.

AFP

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that Israel’s retaliation against Iran for last week’s missile barrage will be “deadly, precise and surprising”

“Our attack in Iran will be deadly, precise and surprising,” Gallant said in a statement posted on social media, adding: “Those who try to harm the State of Israel will pay a price.”

Mwanwhile, the United States has asked Israel to avoid conducting military operations in Lebanon like it has in Gaza.

Briefing journalists on Wednesday, the State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, expressed concern over the humanitarian situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

“I’m making very clear that there should be no kind of military action in Lebanon that looks anything like Gaza and leaves a result anything like Gaza,” he said.

Miller was responding to a question about a video released by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.

“You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza,” Netanyahu said. “I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end.”

Hezbollah began low-intensity strikes on Israeli troops a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which triggered war in the Gaza Strip.

The clashes have rapidly escalated this month, with Israel carrying out extensive strikes at both the border and further inside Lebanon, before launching ground operations in the country late last month.

Miller separately said the United States was “particularly concerned” about the humanitarian situation in north Gaza, where the territory’s civil defense agency said Israeli forces have intensified shelling and closed roads, preventing aid delivery.

“We are incredibly concerned about the humanitarian situation in all of Gaza, and particularly concerned about the humanitarian situation in north Gaza, and I can tell you, it has been the subject of some very urgent discussions between our two governments,” he said.

“We have been making clear to the government of Israel that they have an obligation under international humanitarian law to allow food and water and other needed humanitarian assistance to make it into all parts of Gaza,” Miller said.

“We fully expect them to comply with those obligations,” Miller added, while also warning Israel against “conducting operations in Gaza in perpetuity.”