Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the United Nations on Sunday to evacuate troops in its UNIFIL peacekeeping force from combat areas in Lebanon.
Netanyahu said the military had asked the UN to evacuate the soldiers repeatedly, adding that their presence in the area made them hostages of Hezbollah.
A series of strikes have hit peacekeeping positions and personnel in recent days, most of them blamed by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Israeli forces, drawing condemnation from the United Nations and several foreign nations. A total of five peacekeepers have been wounded.
Hezbollah denies Israel's accusation that it treats the peacekeepers as hostages and says Israel wants them to leave so they cannot serve as a check on the Israeli cross-border campaign.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a call with Israeli Defense Minister Gallant on Saturday, expressed "deep concern" about reports that Israeli forces had fired on peacekeeper positions and urged Israel to ensure safety for them and the Lebanese military, the Pentagon said. The Lebanese military is not party to Israel's conflict with Hezbollah.
Fighting across the border erupted a year ago when Hezbollah began launching rockets at northern Israel at the start of the Gaza war, and has sharply escalated in recent weeks, with Israel announcing a ground incursion.
Israel's military said it continues to operate in southern Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure.
"Over the past day, the IAF (air force) has struck approximately 200 Hezbollah targets deep in Lebanon and southern Lebanon, including terrorist cells, launchers, anti-tank missile posts, and terrorist infrastructure sites," it said.
Israel also said five launches that crossed from Lebanon were intercepted by the air force.
The Israeli military added in a statement on Sunday that one of its reservists and an officer were severely injured in two separate incidents during combat in southern Lebanon, with additional soldiers suffering light-to-moderate injuries.
The Israeli military also said that it captured a Hezbollah fighter in southern Lebanon after discovering an underground tunnel leading to a hideout concealing weapons and supplies for extended use.
Hezbollah announced a rocket strike on the Tirat HaCarmel transport base in southern Haifa, in a statement on Sunday.
Israel's expanded operation has displaced more than 1.2 million people, according to Lebanon's government, which says more than 2,100 people have been killed and 10,000 wounded in over a year of fighting. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but includes scores of women and children.
The fighting in the region has also drawn attacks from other Iran-backed militant groups such as Yemen's Houthis and armed groups in Iraq, raising fears that the United States and Iran could be sucked into a full-scale conflict.
The “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” said in a statement on Sunday it had targeted a military site in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights with drones in support of the Palestinians and Lebanon. It said it would continue escalating attacks against Israeli strongholds.
The war in Gaza began after a Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7, 2023, on southern Israeli communities in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's military campaign in Gaza, aimed at eliminating Hamas, has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and has laid waste to the enclave.
In Gaza itself, Israel has been conducting a large-scale assault on the northern part of the territory for more than a week.
