United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon should “absolutely” ignore Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for them to leave the country, says one of the mission’s former deputy chief liaison officers.

Israel’s prime minister earlier urged the UN to remove its peacekeepers from Lebanon as their presence “endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers”.

John Durnin has completed five tours with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and says peacekeepers have a crucial role in the country.

He says UNIFIL act as a restraint to stop the Israelis “using the full power of their weaponry against the Lebanese people in the same way as they’ve been doing in Gaza”.

“If UNIFIL were taken out of the way, then the world would really have no way of watching and monitoring what the Israelis are doing and putting some kind of restraint on them from carrying out full attacks on the whole population,” he said.

Asked by Sky News chief presenter Mark Austin if he thinks the UN’s answer to Israel’s removal request should be no, Mr Durnin said: “Absolutely. Definitely.”

He added that UNIFIL also does crucial work in rescuing civilians who are cut off or isolated after heavy fighting.

Number wounded in drone attack rises to 61

The number of people wounded in this evening’s drone attack on Binyamina has risen to 61.

Of those, three people have been critically wounded and are in a serious condition.

Hezbollah has already claimed responsibility for the attack.

Binyamina sits between Haifa and Tel Aviv on Israel’s coastline.