U.N. peacekeeping forces "Israel attacks five times on purpose"

The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon says Israel has recently been attacked several times in the face of a ground war against Hezbollah.

"We've been targeted many times, we've been attacked deliberately by Israeli forces five times," peacekeeping spokesman Andrea Tennenti said in a video briefing on the 18th local time.

In particular, Israeli troops entered the area of a peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon and stayed for 45 minutes, Tennenti noted.

"There has been widespread destruction of cities and towns in southern Lebanon, and rockets continue to be fired into Israeli civilian residential areas," Tenenti said, adding that it is shocking that many villages have been devastated along the U.N.-set boundaries between the two countries.

The role of peacekeepers now is more important than ever and we must be here. We will try to restore stability and peace to the region.

This is a public counter-argument to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's earlier call for the withdrawal of peacekeeping bases.