UN says Israeli tanks forced entry to its position in south Lebanon as Netanyahu tells peacekeepers to leave

Those incidents prompted rebukes from several of Israel’s allies, including France, Italy and Spain. A Downing Street spokesperson said the UK was “appalled”.

In his comments on Sunday, Netanyahu said European leaders should direct their criticism towards Hezbollah, not Israel.

Israel argues that Unifil has failed to stabilise the region and prevent Hezbollah fighters from operating south of the Litani River – among the reasons for a UN presence there.

It has previously said that it was acting on a 2004 UN resolution calling for the disbanding of Lebanese and non-Lebanese militant groups, and that its request for peacekeepers to withdraw was so it could confront Hezbollah.

Netanyahu said these appeals had been “met with refusals”, and that Unifil was providing a “human shield to Hezbollah terrorists”.

“This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers,” he added.

“We regret the injuring of Unifil soldiers and we are doing everything in our power to prevent this injuring. But the simple and obvious way to ensure this is simply to get them out of the danger zone.”

Unifil officials have repeatedly refused to withdraw troops from the region.

The body’s spokesman Andrea Tenenti told the AFP news agency on Saturday that there had been a “unanimous decision to stay because it’s important for the UN flag to still fly high in this region”.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nijab Mikati condemned Netanyahu’s position.

In a statement, he said the Israeli PM’s comments represented “a new chapter in the enemy’s approach of not complying with international legitimacy”.

Mikati urged other nations “to take a firm position that stops the Israeli aggression”.