The United Nations have said Israeli tanks “forcibly entered” a base of its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding they leave the area.
In the latest accusation of Israeli violations and attacks that have been denounced by Israel’s own allies, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeping force said two Israeli Merkava tanks destroyed and burst through the main gate of a base before dawn on Sunday morning.
After the tanks left, shells exploded 100 metres away, releasing smoke that blew across the base and caused UN personnel to fall sick, with 15 requiring 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, Mr Netanyahu said a statement addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: “The time has come for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones.”
He added: “The IDF has requested this repeatedly and has met with repeated refusal, which has the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields.”
In Israel, Hezbollah is being blamed after Israeli rescue services said on Sunday evening that almost 40 people have been wounded in a drone strike in the central city of Binyamina, three of them critically.
The Pentagon announced on Sunday that the United States will send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery and troops to Israel, shortly after Iran warned Washington to keep American military forces out of Israel.
Spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said in a statement that defence secretary Lloyd Austin authorised the deployment of the THAAD battery at the direction of President Joe Biden.
Maj Gen Ryder said the system will help bolster Israel‘s air defences following Iran’s missile attacks on the country in April and October.