Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett has accused Benjamin Netanyahu of misleading the public after the latter claimed its military retains “freedom of action” in Lebanon, AlJazeera reports.

In a post on social media platform X, Bennett said he had spoken with Israeli soldiers and commanders who had recently served in southern Lebanon and claimed they were facing new operational restrictions.

According to Bennett, Israeli troops have observed Hezbollah fighters “repairing infrastructure, arming up, and returning to activity, and our soldiers are forbidden from opening fire on them”.

He also said that Israeli Air Force planes “have completely stopped operating” in Lebanon. “When Netanyahu and Israel Katz announced yesterday that the [Israeli military] has freedom of action in Lebanon, they didn’t tell the truth,” Bennett wrote. “The truth is that our boys’ hands are tied in Lebanon.”