Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon have found Hezbollah weapons stockpiles hidden close to United Nations posts, the Israeli military announced on Sunday.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), soldiers from the Oded, or 9th, Brigade Combat Team uncovered two stockpiles during searches in the area of Meiss El Jabal. One was in a civilian home about 200 metres from a UN post, and the other was in a storage facility about 100 metres from a UN post.

The stores contained Kalashnikov rifles, RPG launchers and rockets, a PK machine gun, fragmentation grenades, an explosive device, ammunition, and communications and surveillance equipment, the military said. The weapons were found alongside humanitarian aid boxes and emblems of the Amal and Hezbollah organisations, according to the IDF account.

In a separate operation in the area of Et Tiri, troops from the Kfir Brigade Combat Team located an apartment that the military said Hezbollah had been using for military purposes, about 250 metres from a UN post. Inside, soldiers found surveillance equipment, combat gear, living supplies and Hezbollah emblems, the IDF said.

Both brigades are operating under the 91st Division in what Israel calls the security zone in southern Lebanon, where its forces have been searching for Hezbollah infrastructure hidden in civilian areas.

The military said the findings were further evidence that UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, had failed in its mission, and that armed groups were cynically exploiting the force's inaction. Neither of the reports carried a response from UNIFIL or from Hezbollah to the IDF's claims.

The IDF said it would not allow Hezbollah to harm Israeli civilians or soldiers, and would continue to remove threats while remaining committed to the ceasefire agreement.

The announcement is the latest in a series of Israeli claims about Hezbollah arms hidden in civilian buildings in southern Lebanon. Earlier in November, the military said troops had found more than 340 Hezbollah weapons during operations in the Beaufort Ridge and Litani River areas, including an underground shaft about seven metres deep inside a civilian home.

Israel and Hezbollah have been operating under a fragile US-brokered ceasefire since April, but both sides have accused each other of violations, and Israeli strikes and ground operations in southern Lebanon have continued. Israel says the operations are aimed at preventing Hezbollah from rebuilding its military capacity close to the border.

Hezbollah has not commented publicly on Sunday's announcement in the reports. The claims about the contents and locations of the caches rest on the IDF's own account, and no independent verification of the finds was reported.

For UNIFIL, whose peacekeepers are deployed across southern Lebanon to monitor the cessation of hostilities, the episode adds to long-standing Israeli criticism of the force. Israel has repeatedly accused the mission of failing to prevent Hezbollah from arming itself south of the Litani River, a charge the force has previously rejected. The IDF's latest announcement is likely to sharpen that dispute as the ceasefire comes under growing strain.