Israel demanded on Wednesday that the United Nations Security Council condemn Hezbollah over its digging of tunnels into its territory from Lebanon.
Following a stormy session, the council took no action on the Israeli request, though several members sided with Israel and expressed concerns over Hezbollah's violation of Security Council resolution 1701 that ended a 2006 war between them.
Addressing foreign media before the meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “I call on all the members of the Security Council to condemn Hezbollah's wanton acts of aggression, to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization, to press for heightened sanctions against Hezbollah.”
Israel also wanted the Security Council "to demand that Lebanon stop allowing its territory to be allowed to be used as an act of aggression and its citizens to be used as pawns, to support Israel's right to defend itself against Iranian inspired and Iranian conducted aggression," he said.
At the United Nations, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon showed an aerial photograph of what Israel called a "private compound" near the border that concealed a tunnel. He also presented an aerial photo showing what he said were weapons-storage sites concealed in a border village.
He said that Israel had given the peacekeeping mission UNIFIL "precise information" about the tunnels that was shared with the Lebanese army. He accused the Lebanese army of then relaying the information to Hezbollah, allowing it to try to conceal the tunnels.
"Lebanese army officials are working for Hezbollah, while UNIFIL is not working to fulfill its mandate in the region in the necessary manner," Danon said.
The UN's peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said UNIFIL had confirmed four tunnels, including two that cross the frontier into Israel.
Calling them a "serious violation" of the 2006 cease-fire resolution, Lacroix said UNIFIL is "acting judiciously" to complete its investigation and to work with both sides to disable all tunnels that cross the border.
"This is a matter of serious concern," he said.
Lebanon's ambassador, Amal Mudallali, said her country took the matter seriously and remains committed to the ceasefire resolution.
"This commitment is not rhetoric, and these are not mere words, because this commitment is in the interest of my country and my people," she said, adding that the Lebanese army is "deployed heavily" in the south to make sure the cease-fire is honored.
But she also accused Israel of repeatedly violating resolution 1701 by allowing its air force to routinely fly through Lebanese skies.
"If we were to call for a Security Council meeting, every time Israel had violated Lebanon's sovereignty since 2006," she said, "you will be in a 24/7 shift to address them."
Stepping up its diplomatic campaign, Israel for the first time granted media access to one of the tunnels from south Lebanon.
The army on Wednesday transported journalists in armored vehicles to film one of the tunnels just dozens of meters (yards) from the Lebanese border near the Israeli town of Metula.
The media trip came two weeks after the army announced the launch of an operation dubbed "Northern Shield" to destroy tunnels it said have been dug under the border by Hezbollah.
The tunnel shown to journalists appeared to extend around 40 meters inside Israeli territory. An exit point was not seen, only an access hole that had been dug above it.
Bulldozers were at work in the mud nearby close to the concrete barrier which Israel has built along the border. Concrete was being poured into several holes that had been excavated.
"We'll stay here until we've finished. It took Hezbollah years to construct these tunnels. Our operation will set them back years," a military official told journalists, asking not to be named.
