Israeli tanks forced their way onto a U.N. peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon on Sunday, putting the lives of the soldiers there in danger, the U.N. mission said. Hours later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his call for the United Nations to pull the peacekeepers out of the area immediately.

The tank incursion came after days of criticism of Israeli forces over attacks that have wounded at least four peacekeepers in Lebanon. Israel forces crossed into that country two weeks ago to stop the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah from firing rockets and drones across the frontier.

Later in the day, Israeli military radio reported that about 40 people had been wounded in a strike in Binyamina, a town in the Haifa district of northern Israel. State broadcaster Kan said it was a drone strike. Four people were reported to be in critical condition.

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Peace Keepers Stationed in Southern Lebanon

The peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, has been stationed in southern Lebanon for four decades, tasked with trying to keep the border area free of weaponry and military forces. But over the past year, Hezbollah has stepped up rockets on Israel from there, and Israel last month began an intense air and ground operation to eliminate the militants across Lebanon.

Early Sunday morning, the U.N. mission said, Israeli battle tanks showed up at one of its bases.

“While peacekeepers were in shelters, two IDF Merkava tanks destroyed the position’s main gate and forcibly entered the position,” it said in a statement, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. Israeli soldiers, it said, requested multiple times that the base turn out its lights.

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While no peacekeepers were hurt, the entry of Israeli forces onto a U.N. base risked undermining its neutral status and making it a target for Hezbollah, the peacekeepers said. It said the tanks left 45 minutes later after the mission filed a protest.

The Israeli military said that the incident happened as its forces were trying to evacuate 25 troops who had come under Hezbollah missile fire from an area close to a UNIFIL post. The Israeli military was in contact with the U.N. mission throughout the incident, a military spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani, told reporters. He said the tank had not been “storming” the base.

Israel Says Peacekeepers Failed

Israel says that the peacekeeping force, which is largely observational, has failed to prevent Hezbollah from building up its military presence along the frontier and that the militants operate near the peacekeeping bases.

In recent weeks, Israeli officials have called on the mission to pull back, and on Sunday, Netanyahu reiterated that demand in a message directed at the secretary-general of the United Nations, António Guterres. “Your refusal to evacuate the UNIFIL soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said. “This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers.”

Referring to the peacekeepers wounded earlier in the fighting, he 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.”

The U.N. force has rejected Israel’s calls to leave its positions in southern Lebanon, noting that its presence there is mandated by the U.N. Security Council. Guterres does not have authority over UNIFIL.

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On Sunday, about two hours after the initial tank incident, the U.N. force said, the base reported that several rounds had been fired from a position about 100 yards north. It did not say which forces had fired the rounds.

The peacekeeping mission has not stopped Israel from pouring troops across the border in pursuit of Hezbollah, which like Hamas in the Gaza Strip is backed by Iran.

Since Hamas led a deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has been fighting to destroy Hamas, devastating Gaza in the process. But in recent weeks, Israel has also stepped up its campaign against Hezbollah.

On Sunday morning, the Israeli military said that its jets had hit around “200 Hezbollah targets deep in Lebanon and southern Lebanon” over the past day as its soldiers clashed with Hezbollah militants in the southern part of the country.

Lebanese Red Cross Responding to a ‘Major Strike’

The Lebanese Red Cross said overnight that it was responding to a “major strike” in the southern city of Nabatieh, posting an image on social media that showed flames and rubble. Lebanon’s civil defense said Sunday morning one person had been killed and four others wounded. Lebanon’s government said that at least 23 people had been killed over the past 24 hours.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.S. agency that aids Palestinians, said Sunday that he had just visited Lebanon where teams from his organization were helping Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians affected by the fighting.

“The expansion of the war into Lebanon is taking us away from reaching a cease-fire needed for respite for civilians across the region,” he said on social media.

In recent days, Israeli forces in southern Lebanon have fired several times at UNIFIL positions. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Sunday became the latest leader to criticize Israel over the attacks. She “reiterated the unacceptability of UNIFIL being attacked by Israeli armed forces,” the Italian government said in a statement that followed a phone conversation between Meloni and Netanyahu.

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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he had spoken Saturday with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and “strongly emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety and security” of the peacekeepers, as well as of Lebanese forces.

Gallant said in his own statement Sunday that “the incident involving UNIFIL troops” was being investigated and that Israel’s military “will continue to take measures to avoid harm to UNIFIL troops and peacekeeping positions.”

About a dozen Israeli troops have been killed during the current operation. On Sunday, the Israeli military said that two more soldiers had been severely wounded in combat. It also said that Israeli forces had captured a Hezbollah fighter in a tunnel during a raid in southern Lebanon.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Hiba Yazbek/Diego Ibarra Sanchez
c. 2024 The New York Times Company