Israel’s Prime Minister has urged UN peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon “immediately” to evacuate the area.
Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video released by his office Sunday, told the UN Interim Force Lebanon (Unifil), to get their troops “outta harm’s way”, saying that they were “hostages” of Hezbollah because of their presence in the area.
His comments follow his condemnation of several cases of Unifil soldiers being injured as a result of military action in the area – with Israel admitting that it fired at UN posts in some instances.
Israel had previously asked Unifil for a 5km (3 mile) northward withdrawal after it launched its invasion against the armed group Hezbollah.
Since last October, when Hamas, a militant Palestinian group, attacked southern Israel communities. Hezbollah has been firing on Israel almost daily.
Around 800 civil staff and nearly 10,000 peacekeepers, from 50 different countries, are stationed at the Lebanon.
Since 1978, they patrol the area between the Litani River (the river that runs through Lebanon) and the UN-recognised border between Lebanon and Israel, known as the “Blue Line”.
Five peacekeepers were injured in the past few days. Unifil reported that a soldier was shot at their headquarters in Naquora on Saturday. However, it did not know where the bullet came from.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the day before, said that its troops were responsible in an incident where two Unifil soldiers from Sri Lanka were injured.
Two Indonesian Unifil soldiers were injured Thursday after an Israeli tank fired at them, causing them to fall from an observation tower.
France, Italy, and Spain all condemned the incidents. A spokesperson for Downing Street said that the UK was “appalled”.
In his comments made on Sunday, Netanyahu said that European leaders should direct criticism towards Hezbollah and not Israel.
Israel argues that Unifil failed to stabilise and prevent Hezbollah from operating south of Litani River. This is among the reasons why a UN presence was there.
It has said previously that it was acting in accordance with a 2004 UN Resolution calling for the disbandment of militant groups both Lebanese & non-Lebanese, and that it requested peacekeepers withdraw so that it could confront Hezbollah.
Netanyahu said that these appeals were “met with refusals” and that Unifil provided a “human shield” to Hezbollah terrors.
“This puts both their lives and those of our soldiers in danger,” he said.
“We regret that Unifil soldiers were injured and we will do everything possible to prevent this injury.” The obvious and simple way to do this is to remove them from the danger zone.
Officials of Unifil have repeatedly refused the withdrawal of troops from the area.
The spokesperson for the UN, Andrea Tenenti, told AFP on Saturday that the decision was unanimous. “It’s important to keep the UN flag flying high in this area.”
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