FIERCE fighting raged in southern Lebanon today as Israel continued its illegal invasion.

Three United Nations peacekeepers and four Israeli troops were killed as Israel pursued its invasion and stated goal of a prolonged occupation of the area.

The UN security council is set to discuss the escalating crisis.

Experts have labelled the forced removal of around 1 million inhabitants of southern Lebanon by the Israelis as ethnic cleansing, a war crime.

Ten Israeli soldiers have been reported killed since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah flared up on March 2, following the illegal and unprovoked attack by the United States and Israel on Iran on February 28.

More than 1,200 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

This comes a day after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said two of its peacekeepers were killed “when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle: near the south Lebanese village of Bani Haiyyan.

Another peacekeeper was killed by a projectile on Sunday near the village of Aadchit el-Qsair in south Lebanon.

Israel’s far right prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued orders on Monday for his troops to push deeper into southern Lebanon to the Litani River to create a “buffer zone.”

Others in Israel’s far-right governing coalition have urged Mr Netanyahu to go even further and to formally annex southern Lebanon.

Israel’s far-right Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich last week said the war in Lebanon “needs to end with a different reality entirely,” which includes a “change of Israel’s borders.”

Israeli forces have already destroyed bridges and homes to cut southern Lebanon off from the rest of the country and told the 1 million “displaced” population that they will not be allowed back.