WarSclerotic

The United Nations’ envoy to the Mideast said Tuesday that peacekeepers in Lebanon have not been given access to tunnels stretching into Israel, which U.N. officials say violate a cease-fire resolution that ended a devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

Nikolay Mladenov told the Security Council that the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL has confirmed that two tunnels crossed the U.N.-drawn Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel, but “has not been granted access to the confirmed entry points of a tunnel near Kfar Kila on the Lebanese side.”

He did not say whether Lebanon’s government or the Hezbollah terrorist group was blocking access for UNIFIL, but U.S. Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Cohen blamed the government.

Cohen accused Hezbollah, an Iranian ally, of threatening international peace and security with the extensive tunneling exposed by Israel, which has reported uncovering six tunnels into its territory.

“We commend UNIFIL’s work to keep the Blue Line under control, but it is unacceptable that the Lebanese government has not yet given UNIFIL access to the tunnel entrance on their side of the Blue Line,” Cohen told the council.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon complained to the council that “the Lebanese army has taken no action in response, allowing Hezbollah to continue building these tunnels undisturbed.”

Danon alleged that Iran funnels $7 billion to terrorist groups across the region, including $1 billion to Hezbollah, which he said has “grand plans to take over the Israeli Galilee” and invests millions in every tunnel. He provided no information on how Israel calculated its estimate of Iranian spending, which also included $4 billion to the Syrian government, “hundreds of millions” to Iran’s proxies in Iraq, tens of millions to Houthi Shiite rebels in Yemen, $70 million to Palestinian Islamic Jihad and $50 million to Hamas, which controls Gaza.

Mladenov noted that Lebanon has been without a government for over eight months and called on all parties to resolve their differences so the country “can address the main pressing challenges it faces, including that of a struggling economy.”

On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mladenov said that “we should have no illusions about the dangerous dynamics … which continue to unfold before our eyes” and have eroded “the possibility of establishing a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.”

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador, told the council that last year “Israel’s illegal occupation became more entrenched, more brutal and extreme” with the political process “deadlocked.”

“Day by day, the occupation is destroying the two-state solution and sowing deep despair among our people,” he said.

But despite “the dismal situation,” Mansour said, Palestinians “remain committed to non-violence, dialogue and the objectives of peace,” as well as negotiations on a two-state solution. He urged regional and international efforts “to help overcome the impasse and contribute to the realization of a just solution as a matter of urgency.”

Israeli tanks shelled Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing one Hamas terrorist after an IDF officer was shot and wounded by a Palestinian sniper near the border. Armed Palestinian factions in Gaza later convened “to discuss a proper response to the crimes of the Zionist occupier.”

Later Tuesday, Israeli aircraft carried out multiple strikes on a Hamas military site in northern Gaza.

Reports that largely cited Hamas sources inside the coastal enclave, however, said the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, is behind the current efforts to escalate hostilities in Israel’s south.

In all likelihood, it was also Soleimani who gave the “green light” to the Palestinian sniper who shot the IDF officer, who miraculously was only lightly wounded after the bullet hit his helmet.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad has orchestrated the provocations along the border in recent days and unlike Hamas, it is beholden first and foremost to its patrons in Iran. As a reminder, Soleimani’s forces in Syria were dealt a resounding operational blow on Sunday by Israel, which destroyed numerous Iranian military targets in response to an Iranian missile fired at the Golan Heights.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also canceled a Qatari donation of $15 million for the impoverished enclave that had been due on Wednesday as part of international efforts to head off an escalation. The prime minister made the decision after consulting with senior defense officials and convening an emergency meeting of the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said: “Israel is solely responsible for the latest escalation in Gaza. Israel continues to hurt our people and the brave resistance will not agree to a situation where Netanyahu uses elections for his personal interests and harms the Palestinian people in a premeditated manner.”

Worried about a potential flare-up escalating into a full-on conflict, Egypt and the United Nations have sought to calm the situation in Gaza, while Qatar in November pledged $150 million in donations, to be transferred via Israel over six months, in the hope of easing economic pressure.

The Israeli official who announced the postponement did not say when the next $15 million payout might now take place. Netanyahu has previously stipulated that the cash injection was contingent upon calm along the Gaza border.

In a statement, the IDF said it “sees the Hamas terror organization as being solely responsible for what happens in and originates from Gaza. The IDF is prepared and willing to act against all acts of terror from Gaza and is determined to defend the citizens of the State of Israel.”

‘A disgrace to the residents of the south and the IDF’

Also on Tuesday, residents of southern Israel protested against the transfer of the Qatari funds to Hamas.

One protester, a member of Kibbutz Ruhama, said that transferring the third Qatari payout would be a slap in the face to the residents of the south and the IDF.

“When you see the deterrence in the north, it’s hard to understand the weak policy in the south. The IDF is very capable of coping on all fronts, and here we have an evil organization whose might is equal to one one-hundredth of the might of the enemy in the north, so what’s the problem with preventing Hamas terror?” he said. “Why surrender and give them $15 million when they use some of the money for terror in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria? It’s absurd.”