Israel condemned as 50 die in rocket attack
Israeli missiles struck a southern Lebanese village today killing about 50 civilians – half of them children – when the building they sought refuge in collapsed.
Some 35 bodies have been recovered, but more were still trapped under the rubble, Lebanon’s official news agency reported.
Israel said it targeted Qana because Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel from there.
“The army did not get an order to strike at Lebanese civilians. In Kfar Qana, hundreds of Katyushas (rockets) are hidden,” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said during his weekly Cabinet meeting.
“We deeply regret the loss of any civilian life and especially when you talk about children who are innocent. This is not the code of conduct of the Israeli army,” said Gideon Meir, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official.
“But one must understand, the Hezbollah is using their own civilian population as human shields.”
The attack brought a swift response from Hezbollah – with a vow to retaliate.
“The massacre at Qana will not go unanswered,” a spokesman said.
Mohammed Shaloub, a survivor of the attack, said there were 55 people in the house and eight survived.
The bodies of at least 27 children were found, said Abu Shadi Jradi, a civil defence official at the scene. Corpses were still being pulled out, placed in plastic bags and loaded in ambulances, he said.
He said the army dropped leaflets several days ago telling civilians to leave Qana.
Residents said they were too afraid to take the road out of Qana, which had been attacked repeatedly by rockets and bombs. Charred wreckage and smashed buildings line the road from Tyre to Qana, roughly nine miles away.
Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr disputed allegations that Hezbollah was firing missiles from Qana.
“What do you expect Israel to say? Will it say that it killed 40 children and women?” he told Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV station.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora telephoned UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urging him to convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and arrange for an immediate ceasefire, the government said.
“There is no place at this sad moment for any discussions other than an immediate and unconditional ceasefire as well as international investigation of the Israeli massacres in Lebanon now,” he said.
The government told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was in Jerusalem at the time of the strike, to call off a visit to Lebanon planned for later today.
As news of the attack spread, a protest swelled in central Beirut to more than 5,000 people, denouncing Israel and the US, some chanting, “Destroy Tel Aviv, destroy Tel Aviv.”
A few broke car windows and tried briefly to break into the main UN building, until political leaders called for a halt to damage.
Lebanese security officials said the strike was at 1am (2300BST) at Qana, a village in the hills east of the port city of Tyre.
The attack came as heavy fighting erupted along the border between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV channel said Israeli troops had ”infiltrated” a zone known as the Taibeh Project area, a mile inside Lebanon. It said the Israeli force was a commando unit known as “the Golani Brigade,” and that two soldiers had been killed. The Israeli army said troops were operating in the Taibeh area since early morning, and that only one soldier was moderately wounded.
Heavy artillery also rained down on the villages of Yuhmor and Arnoun, close to Taibeh, and Israeli jets were seen in the skies overhead.
In Qana, a three-storey building took a direct hit on the residential edge of the village. The dead were elderly men and women and children from four families who residents said spend the night on the ground floor where they felt they were safe from the bombardment.
Rescuers aided by villagers were digging by hand to look for casualties.
