Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, to move peacekeepers deployed in south Lebanon out of harm’s way.
Netanyahu who made this plea on Sunday alleged Hezbollah is using the peacekeepers as human shields.
Sunday Telegraph reports that this is coming a day after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon refused to withdraw from the border area despite five of its members being injured amid the recent fighting.
Netanyahu in a video statement issued by his office, in his first comments on the issue, said, “Mr Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately.”
Speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting, he said Israeli forces had asked UNIFIL several times to leave but it had met with repeated refusals that provided a human shield to Hezbollah terrorists.
“Your refusal to evacuate the UNIFIL soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah. This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers.
“We regret the harm to UNIFIL soldiers and we are doing our utmost to prevent such harm. But the simplest and most obvious way to ensure this is simply to withdraw them from the danger zone,” he added.