The United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon says Israeli tanks have forced entry at one of its positions, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN to evacuate its troops from the area.
The incident is the latest in a series of violations and attacks by Israeli forces on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in recent days and comes as Israel expands its bombardment and ground attacks on Lebanon.
UNIFIL said in a statement on Sunday that two Israeli tanks “destroyed the position’s main gate and forcibly entered the position”.
Soon after the tanks left, shells exploded 100 metres (328 feet) away, releasing smoke that blew across the base and sickened UN personnel, causing 15 to require treatment despite wearing gas masks, UNIFIL said. It did not say who fired the shells or what sort of toxic substance it suspected.
In its account of events, the Israeli military said fighters from the Lebanese armed 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.
The incident occurred hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the UN to evacuate the peacekeeping force from combat areas in Lebanon.
“The time has come for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones,” Netanyahu said in a statement addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The Israeli army “has requested this repeatedly and has met with repeated refusal, which has the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields”, Netanyahu added.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati slammed Netanyahu’s demand.
“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],” he said.
Hezbollah denies Israel’s accusation that it uses the proximity of peacekeepers to protect its fighters.
Ray Murphy, a former UNIFIL peacekeeper, told Al Jazeera that “the use of the tanks, firing at and around UN posts, and recklessly endangering UN personnel is a deliberate, violent act by Israeli forces”.
“In no way can this be attributed to Hezbollah. It is a decision by Israeli forces to target UN forces, UN posts,” he said.
UN peacekeepers are protected under international humanitarian law, Murphy noted.
“They are not playing a military role. They are playing a peace role. They are observing, they are reporting, they are trying to deliver humanitarian assistance. There is no justification for this attack on UN forces,” Murphy said.
Israel’s envoy to the UN, Danny Danon, said that the “UN’s insistence on keeping UNIFIL soldiers in line of fire is incomprehensible.”
UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor southern Lebanon. Since then, the area has seen persistent conflict, with Israel invading in 1982, occupying southern Lebanon until 2000 and fighting a five-week war against Hezbollah in 2006.
Israel and Hezbollah began trading near-daily fire in October 2023 after Israel launched its continuing assault on Gaza. More than 2,100 people have been killed in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, according to Lebanese authorities, mostly over the past few weeks since Israel escalated its attacks, and more than 1.2 million people have been displaced.
Attacks on UN peacekeepers
Five peacekeepers have so far been wounded in a series of attacks that have hit peacekeeping positions and personnel in recent days, with most of the attacks blamed by UNIFIL on Israeli forces.
On Thursday, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the UN Security Council that “the safety and security of peacekeepers is now increasingly in jeopardy”. He said they remained in position but operational activities had virtually come to a halt since September 23 and peacekeepers were confined to base. Three hundred had also been temporarily relocated to bigger bases.
The United States and European countries have demanded that Israeli forces stop firing at the peacekeepers. On Friday, US President Joe Biden said he was “absolutely, positively” telling Israel to stop.
On Sunday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, typically one of Israel’s most vocal supporters among Western European leaders, also reiterated to Netanyahu the “unacceptability of UNIFIL being attacked by Israeli armed forces”, according to an Italian government statement.
Netanyahu said on Sunday on X that he told Meloni he regrets “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,” Netanyahu said.