“More than 100,000 artillery shells have been fired since the start of the ground manoeuvre,” the army said in a statement.

The officer, whose name has not been made public, will remain in custody until Tuesday when an investigation will confirm if he is suspected of "serious sex offences."

The Lebanese army said in a statement that members of the Lebanese armed forces took "combat positions" in front of an Israeli army bulldozer and forced it to stop work after it had breached the Blue Line for a distance of two metres near the town of Kfar Kalla, in southern Lebanon.

A Ministry statement said Rayyan Suleiman, from the town of Tuqu near Bethlehem city, had fallen from a height while running away from Israeli soldiers.