Israeli tanks forced entry into military base, says UN

The incident came as Benjamin Netanyahu insisted United Nations peacekeeping forces should abandon their positions

- TARA COBHAM

Israeli tanks forcibly entered a United Nations peacekeeping force base in southern Lebanon yesterday, the organisation said, the latest accusation of violations and attacks by the IDF on the UN.

It comes as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu demands UN forces leave the area.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said two Israeli Merkava tanks destroyed and burst through the main gate of a base before dawn yesterday morning.

After the tanks left, shells exploded 100 metres away, releasing smoke that blew across the base and caused UN personnel to fall sick, with 15 requiring treatment despite wearing gas masks, it said in a statement.

In its version of events, the Israeli military said militants of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah had fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli troops, wounding 25 of them. The attack was very close to a Unifil post and a tank that was helping evacuate the casualties under fire then backed into the Unifil post.

“It is not storming a base. It is not trying to enter a base. It was a tank under heavy fire, mass casualty event, backing up to get out of harm's way,” the military's international spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani, told reporters.

In a statement, the military said it used a smoke screen to provide cover for the evacuation of the wounded soldiers but its actions posed no danger to the UN peackeeping force.

Five peacekeepers have been wounded in a series of strikes in recent days, most blamed by Unifil on Israeli forces.

The UN force said any deliberate attack on peacekeepers was “a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Resolution 1701” that established the mission.