Israeli tanks burst into UN peacekeeping base in Lebanon

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said Israeli tanks burst through the gates of the forces' base in the south on Sunday, as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN to withdraw its troops from the area.

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 away, releasing smoke which blew across the base and sickened UN personnel, it said in a statement.

In its version of events, the Israeli military said members of 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 helping evacuate the casualties under fire then backed into the UNIFIL post, it said.

"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 peacekeeping force.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said in 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."

"The IDF has requested this repeatedly and has met with repeated refusal, which has the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields."

Guterres paid tribute to UNIFIL's peacekeepers, who "remain in all positions," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement issued later on Sunday, adding that "the UN flag continues to fly."

The Secretary-General reiterated a warning that peacekeepers must not be targeted, he said.

"Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law, including international humanitarian law. They may constitute a war crime," Dujarric said.

UNIFIL has said previous Israeli attacks on a watchtower, cameras, communications equipment and lighting had limited its monitoring abilities. UN sources say they fear any violations of international law in the conflict will be impossible to monitor.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a call on Sunday with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, "reinforced the importance of Israel taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese Armed Forces," according to a readout of the call.

Austin also pressed Gallant on the need for Israel "to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway to provide security for civilians on both sides of the border as soon as feasible," it said.

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.

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.

Israeli attacks over the last week have injured at least five UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon. 

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.