Israel accuses Unifil of having turned a blind eye to Hezbollah’s extensive regrouping and rearming, as the Iranian-backed Shia organisation grew into a formidable fighting force – even bigger than the official Lebanese army. Hezbollah is now proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, US and other countries.

Israel expanded its targets in its war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Monday, killing at least 21 people in an airstrike in the north, health officials said, while millions of Israelis took shelter from projectiles fired back across the border.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the UN peacekeepers to relocate as airstrikes in southern Lebanon intensify