The United Nations is shirking its responsibility in preventing rocket attacks into Israel by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday.

Gallant said in a statement on the X social-media platform in a response to comments from U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres that Hezbollah has taken "Lebanon hostage."

"The UN is neither acknowledging their actions, nor fulfilling its fundamental obligation - preventing Hezbollah attacks and demanding the implementation of resolution 1701,” he said of the resolution that requires Hezbollah to disarm.

Guterres earlier said, "Lebanon is at the brink. The people of Lebanon – the people of Israel – and the people of the world - cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza."