Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on the UN chief to move peacekeepers deployed in south Lebanon out of harm’s way, claiming Hezbollah used them as human shields.

His appeal to UN chief Antonio Guterres came a day after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon refused to withdraw from the border area despite five of its members being injured amid recent fighting.

Speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting, he said Israeli forces had asked UNIFIL several times to leave but it had “met with repeated refusals” that provided a “human shield to Hezbollah terrorists”.

UNIFIL has refused to leave its positions in southern Lebanon.

UNIFIL, a mission of about 9,500 troops of various nationalities, was created following Israel’s 1978 invasion of Lebanon.