Tensions between Israel and United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon are escalating, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling for the withdrawal of UNIFIL troops from the battlefield.

Addressing UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Netanyahu today urged the organization to withdraw UNIFIL peacekeeping forces from the fighting areas inside Lebanon.

Netanyahu said the military has repeatedly asked the UN to remove them, adding that their presence in the areamakes them hostages of Hezbollah.

“The IDF has repeatedly requested this and faced repeated denials, all aimed at providing a human shield to Hezbollah terrorists. Mr. Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately”Netanyahu said in English.

UNIFIL says the IDF hit a number of its positions, including its headquarters in Naqoura. UNIFIL soldiers have been slightly injured in the incidents.

“Your refusal to evacuate UNIFIL soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah,” adds Netanyahu. “This puts them and the lives of our soldiers at risk.”

Also, Netanyahu stated that Israel “sorry about the injury” of the peacekeepers and that he is doing everything he can to prevent this.

“But the simple and obvious way to ensure that is simply to get them out of the danger zone,” he emphasized.

The Israeli prime minister said European leaders should criticize Hezbollah, not Israel, for using UNIFIL as a “human shield”.

Guterres is an undesirable person

At the same time, Mr Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz reiterated today that his country considers the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, persona non grata because of the non-condemnation of Iran’s missile attack against Israel, which Katz considers anti-Semitic behavior directed against Israel.

Katz said on October 2 that he was banning UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering his country because he did not “clearly” condemn the missile attack.