Israeli tanks forced their way onto a U.N. peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon on Sunday, putting the lives of the soldiers there in danger, the U.N. mission said. Hours later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel repeated his call for the United Nations to pull the peacekeepers out of the area immediately.
The reported tank incursion came after days of criticism of Israeli forces over attacks that have wounded at least four peacekeepers in Lebanon. Israel forces crossed into that country two weeks ago to stop the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah from firing rockets across the frontier.
The peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, has been stationed in southern Lebanon for four decades, tasked with monitoring the border area and trying to keep it free of weaponry and military forces. But over the past year, Hezbollah, claiming solidarity with Hamas militants fighting Israel in the Gaza Strip, has used the border area to fire rockets at Israel. After a year of exchanges along the border, Israel last month began an intense air and ground operation to eliminate Hezbollah across Lebanon.
Early Sunday morning, the U.N. mission said, Israeli battle tanks showed up at one of their bases.
“While peacekeepers were in shelters, two I.D.F. Merkava tanks destroyed the position’s main gate and forcibly entered the position,” it said in a statement, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. Israeli soldiers, it said, requested multiple times that the base turn out its lights.
While no peacekeepers were hurt, the entry of Israeli forces onto a U.N. base risked undermining its neutral status and making it a target for Hezbollah, the peacekeepers said. It said the tanks left 45 minutes later after the mission filed a protest.
It was not possible to confirm the report independently. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said the incident was being investigated.
Israel says that the peacekeeping force, which is largely observational, has failed to prevent Hezbollah from building up its military presence along the frontier and that the militants operate near the peacekeeping bases.
In recent weeks, Israeli officials have called on the mission to pull back, and on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu reiterated that demand in a message directed at the secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres. “Your refusal to evacuate the UNIFIL soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers.”
Referring to the peacekeepers wounded earlier in the fighting, he 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.”
The U.N. force has rejected Israel’s calls to leave its positions in southern Lebanon, noting that its presence there is mandated by the U.N. Security Council. Mr. Guterres does not have authority over UNIFIL.
On Sunday, about two hours after the initial tank incident, the U.N. force said, the base reported that several rounds had been fired from a position around 100 yards north. It did not say which forces had fired the rounds.
The peacekeeping mission has not stopped Israel from pouring troops across the border in pursuit of Hezbollah, which like Hamas in Gaza is backed by Iran.
Since Hamas led a deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, Israel has been fighting to destroy Hamas, devastating Gaza in the process. But in recent weeks, Israel has also stepped up its campaign against Hezbollah.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli military said that its jets had hit around “200 Hezbollah targets deep in Lebanon and southern Lebanon” over the past day as its soldiers clashed with Hezbollah militants in the southern part of the country.
The Lebanese Red Cross said overnight that it was responding to a “major strike” in the southern city of Nabatieh, posting an image on social media that showed flames and rubble. Lebanon’s civil defense said on Sunday morning one person had been killed and four others wounded. Lebanon’s government said that at least 23 people had been killed over the past 24 hours.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations agency that aids Palestinians, said on Sunday that he had just visited Lebanon where teams from his organization were helping Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians affected by the fighting.
“The expansion of the war into Lebanon is taking us away from reaching a cease-fire needed for respite for civilians across the region,” he said on social media.
In recent days, Israeli forces in southern Lebanon have fired several times at UNIFIL positions. Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, on Sunday became the latest leader to criticize Israel over the attacks. She “reiterated the unacceptability of UNIFIL being attacked by Israeli armed forces,” the Italian government said in a statement that followed a phone conversation between Ms. Meloni and Mr. Netanyahu.
The American defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, said he had spoken on Saturday with Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and “strongly emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety and security” of the peacekeepers, as well as of Lebanese forces.
Mr. Gallant said in his own statement on Sunday that “the incident involving UNIFIL troops” was being investigated and that Israel’s military “will continue to take measures to avoid harm to UNIFIL troops and peacekeeping positions.”
Around a dozen Israeli troops have been killed during the current operation. On Sunday, the Israeli military said that two more soldiers had been severely wounded in combat. It also said that Israeli forces had captured a Hezbollah fighter in a tunnel during a raid in southern Lebanon.
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