Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem, July 17, 2024. (Credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to “withdraw” the soldiers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) from southern Lebanon.
In a statement, Netanyahu called for the peacekeepers to be withdrawn from “Hezbollah strongholds” in southern Lebanon, saying that any refusal would make them “hostages of Hezbollah.” “The presence of UNIFIL endangers the lives of our soldiers,” said Netanyahu. He also recalled that he had “repeatedly” asked the U.N. to withdraw its troops from the border strip with Israel, but had been met with “repeated refusals, which only aim to provide a human shield” for the party's fighters, he said.
Several peacekeepers have been wounded in recent days in gunfire along the border between Lebanon and Israel, where fighting is raging between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, which announced the start of a ground offensive on Sept. 30.
