Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the UN chief on Sunday to relocate peacekeepers in south Lebanon to safer areas, accusing Hezbollah of using them as 'human shields.' Netanyahu's appeal to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres followed the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon's (UNIFIL) refusal to withdraw from the border region despite five of its members being injured in recent clashes.

'Mr. Secretary-General, remove the UNIFIL forces from harm's way. It should be done immediately,' Netanyahu stated in a video released by his office, marking his first public remarks on the matter. Speaking before a cabinet meeting, he noted that Israeli forces had repeatedly requested UNIFIL to leave but were met with 'repeated refusals' that effectively served as a 'human shield' for Hezbollah terrorists.

Netanyahu argued that UNIFIL's refusal to evacuate its soldiers made them 'hostages of Hezbollah,' endangering both them and Israeli forces. 'We regret the harm to UNIFIL soldiers and are doing our utmost to prevent such harm. But the simplest and most obvious way to ensure this is to withdraw them from the danger zone,' he said.

UNIFIL has steadfastly refused to abandon 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. Israel had requested UNIFIL to withdraw from positions up to five kilometers from the Blue Line, but the peacekeepers declined.

UNIFIL, comprising about 9,500 troops from various nations, was established following Israel's 1978 invasion of Lebanon. It currently monitors a ceasefire that ended the 33-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. Forty contributing nations to UNIFIL issued a joint statement condemning recent attacks on the peacekeepers and called for an immediate halt to such actions.

Netanyahu argued that criticism of Israel was misdirected and should be aimed at Hezbollah. 'Instead of criticizing 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, referring to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. In January, Israel accused a dozen UNRWA employees in Gaza of involvement in a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Investigations revealed 'neutrality related issues' at UNRWA, with nine employees possibly implicated in the attack.