JERUSALEM: The Israeli military on Sunday called on residents of more than 20 villages in south Lebanon to evacuate their homes, as troops expanded their ground operations against Hezbollah across the border.
"The Army does not intend to harm you. For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and relocate to the north of the Awali River," Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote in Arabic on X.
The Israeli military has been issuing regular evacuation messages to residents throughout southern Lebanon and in the capital Beirut, as it batters Hezbollah strongholds and targets with air strikes.
In support of its ally Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah started firing into northern Israel in October last year, triggering a near-daily exchange of fire that even before the current escalation had led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people on both sides.
In September, Israel expanded its focus from Gaza to Lebanon, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to fight Hezbollah until Israelis displaced by the violence could return to their homes in the north of the country.
Since Israel began a wave of air strikes on targets in Lebanon and sent troops across the border on September 30, more than 1,200 people have been killed, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, and a million others have been displaced.
'Move out of harm's way'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on the UN chief to move peacekeepers deployed in south Lebanon out of "harm's way," claiming without any evidence that Hezbollah was using them as "human shields."
His appeal to UN chief Antonio Guterres came 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 recent fighting.
"Mr Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm's way. It should be done right now, immediately," Netanyahu said in a video statement issued by his office, in his first comments on the issue.
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," the premier said.
"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."
UNIFIL has refused to leave its positions in southern Lebanon.
"There was a unanimous decision to stay because it's important for the UN flag to still fly high in this region, and to be able to report to the Security Council," UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told AFP in an interview on Saturday.
He said Israel had asked UNIFIL to withdraw from positions "up to five kilometres (three miles) from the Blue Line" separating both countries, but the peacekeepers refused.
That would have included its 29 positions in south Lebanon.
UNIFIL, a mission of about 9,500 troops of various nationalities, was created following Israel's 1978 invasion of Lebanon.
It is currently tasked with monitoring a ceasefire that ended a 33-day war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah.
Forty contributor nations to UNIFIL said on Saturday that they "strongly condemn recent attacks" on the peacekeepers.
"Such actions must stop immediately and should be adequately investigated," said the joint statement, posted on X by the Polish UN mission and signed by 40 nations, including leading contributors Indonesia, Italy and India.
Netanyahu said the criticism of Israel was misplaced and should be directed at Hezbollah.
"Instead of criticising Israel, they should direct their criticism to Hezbollah, which uses UNIFIL as a human shield, just as Hamas in Gaza uses UNRWA as a human shield," he said of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
"Unfortunately, UNRWA also cooperates with Hamas there."
In January, Israel accused a dozen of UNRWA's Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.
A series of probes found some "neutrality related issues" at UNRWA, and determined that nine employees "may have been involved" in the attack.
