UN says Israeli tanks burst into peacekeeper base, Israel gives different account

Reuters: JERUSALEM/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Sunday Israeli tanks had burst through the gates of a base of its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, the latest accusation of Israeli violations and attacks denounced by its own allies.

The UNIFIL peacekeeping force said two Israeli Merkava tanks destroyed the main gate of a base and forcibly entered before dawn on Sunday morning. After the tanks left, shells exploded 100 metres (yards) away, releasing smoke which blew across the base and sickened U.N. personnel, 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 helping evacuate the casualties under fire then backed into the UNIFIL post, it said.

"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 U.N. peacekeeping force.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement addressed to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: "The time has come for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones."

"The IDF has requested this repeatedly and has met with repeated refusal, which has the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields."

Guterres paid tribute to UNIFIL's peacekeepers, who "remain in all positions," U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement issued later on Sunday, adding that "the U.N. flag continues to fly."

The Secretary-General reiterated a warning that peacekeepers must not be targeted, he said.

"Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law, including international humanitarian law. They may constitute a war crime," Dujarric said.

UNIFIL has said previous Israeli attacks on a watchtower, cameras, communications equipment and lighting had limited its monitoring abilities. U.N. sources say they fear any violations of international law in the conflict will be impossible to monitor.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a call on Sunday with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, "reinforced the importance of Israel taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese Armed Forces," according to a readout of the call.

Austin also pressed Gallant on the need for Israel "to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway to provide security for civilians on both sides of the border as soon as feasible," it said.