Israel vs UN: Netanyahu tells Guterres to withdraw peacekeepers from south Lebanon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday (Oct 13) toldUN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to withdraw the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) soldiers from the combat areas in the southern region of the country.

Addressing the UN chief in a Hebrew message, Netanyahu said the UNIFIL soldiers were being used as human shields by the Hezbollah militants.

"It is time for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the areas of combat. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has repeatedly asked for this, and has been met with repeated refusals, all aimed at providing a human shield to Hezbollah terrorists,”said Netanyahu.

“Mr Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately,” he added.

Netanyahu warned that the refusal by the UN to pull out its troops endangered them as well as the Israeli soldiers.

"The simple and obvious way to ensure this is just get them out of the danger zone.”

Third attack in a row

In the last few days, the UNIFIL has claimed that the IDFhad struck a number of its posts, including the headquarters atNaqoura.

"Last night, a peacekeeper at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura was hit by gunfire due to ongoing military activity nearby. He underwent surgery at our Naqoura hospital to remove the bullet and is currently stable. We do not yet know the origin of the fire," UNIFIL claimed on Saturday (Oct 12)

On Friday, the IDF tookresponsibility for an incident in which two Sri Lankan soldiers serving with UNIFIL were wounded. According to the IDF, its troops, operating near the UNIFIL base in Naqoura, perceived a threat and opened fire.

The Israeli military has pledged to conduct a thorough investigation “at the highest levels.” A day earlier, two Indonesian peacekeepers were hurt when they fell from an observation post after an Israeli tank fired in their direction.

Meanwhile, Italy's defence minister had slammed Israel for the shooting by calling it "intolerable".The minister, Guido Crosetto said he "protested" to Israel's defence minister and summoned the Israeli ambassador over the incident.

Italy has more than 1,000 troops in the 10,000-strong UNIFIL force in south Lebanon that said Israeli tank fire on its headquarters wounded two members.

(With inputs from agencies)