JERUSALEM/NEW YORK: 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 U.N. 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 U.N. 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.