Just hours after United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan convened a Security Council meeting on the latest violence in Lebanon, the 15-member body deplored last night’s Israeli attack on the village of Qana, where over 50 civilians, mostly children, were reported killed. “The Security Council expresses its extreme shock and distress at the shelling by the Israeli Defense Forces of a residential building in Qana, in southern Lebanon, which has caused the killing of dozens of civilians, mostly children, and injured many others,” Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere of France, which holds the Council’s rotating presidency this month, said in a formal statement. Read more about Security Council deplores Israeli attack on Qana, urges all sides to grant access
With heavy fighting continuing in southern Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) there today again protested firing in the vicinity - which caused material damage and lightly wounded two blue helmets - to both the Israeli and Lebanese authorities. Five aerial rockets from the Israeli side impacted between 5 to 20 meters of a UNIFIL position in the area of Addaisseh yesterday afternoon, the mission reported. One exploded in the air above the position and two UNIFIL soldiers from the Indian battalion were moderately wounded and evacuated to the UNIFIL hospital in Ibil As Saqy. One artillery round from the Israeli side impacted directly inside the UNIFIL position in Mays Al Jabal. Read more about UN force in Lebanon again lodges protests as firing continues in its vicinity
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke at an emergency meeting of the Security Council which he convened after Israeli missiles hit Qana, killing at least 51 civilians, including many children. He said the council had a responsibility to demand an end to the violence. “Excellencies, we must condemn this action in the strongest possible terms, and I appeal to you to do likewise,” Annan said. Annan is deeply dismayed that his earlier calls for immediate cessation of hostilities were not heeded. Annan also referred to demonstrations in Beirut provoked by the Israeli assault on Qana. Read more about Security Council must condemn Israeli attack in the strongest possible terms, Annan says
The top United Nations aid official today made an urgent appeal for a “humanitarian truce” lasting at least three days between Israel and Hezbollah to allow children, the wounded and the elderly to escape the fighting and food, medicine and other emergency supplies to get through to the conflict zones. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland, who has returned to UN Headquarters in New York from a six-day visit to Lebanon, northern Israel and the Gaza Strip, made his appeal while briefing the Security Council on the deadly and horrific destruction in the region. Read more about UN aid chief calls for ‘humanitarian truce’ to help Middle East’s children and wounded
Three days after a United Nations post in Lebanon was destroyed during an Israeli bombardment, leaving four dead, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has decided to temporarily move unarmed observers into more secure positions. The decision was made to move members of the Observer Group Lebanon (OGL) from patrol bases in the Marwahin and Markaba area into more secure UNIFIL positions as the mission reports increasingly intense exchanges of fire along the Blue Line of withdrawal between Israel and Lebanon. There were two direct hits on its bases in the past 24 hours from the Israeli side, and Hezbollah fired from the vicinity of five of its positions. Read more about UN observer teams in line of fire in south Lebanon to relocate
Voicing its shock and distress at the Israeli Defence Forces’ (IDF) killing of four unarmed United Nations military observers in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, the Security Council today called on the Israeli Government to conduct a full investigation. In a statement read out by Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sablière of France, its President for July, the 15-member Council stressed that “Israel and all concerned parties must comply fully with their obligations” under international humanitarian law on the protection of UN and associated personnel, and ensure that UN staff are not the object of attack. Meanwhile, in the past 24 hours there have been three incidents of firing close to UN positions from the Israeli side. Read more about Security Council calls for comprehensive Israeli inquiry into killing of UN peacekeepers
Deploring the “horrendous and dangerous” situation in Lebanon, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today proposed a three-part strategy involving an immediate cessation of hostilities and wide-ranging political and economic commitments to solve a crisis that has killed hundreds of people and forced around 800,000 others to flee their homes. “A cessation of hostilities, a political framework, the deployment of an international force, and agreement on a reconstruction programme would give us the beginnings of a way out of this crisis,” he told delegates at a high-level conference in Rome called to discuss the worsening situation. Read more about Annan recommends three-pronged solution to the 'horrendous' situation in Lebanon
Following yesterday’s killings of three United Nations peacekeepers - and possibly a fourth - during an air attack in south Lebanon, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today accepted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s expression of “deep sorrow” and suggested a joint investigation into the incident. Speaking to journalists in Rome, where he is meeting with world leaders on the crisis, Mr. Annan said that Mr. Olmert believes that the bombing was a mistake. The Secretary-General emphasized that in his own statement he had used the word “apparent” in relation to whether Israeli forces deliberately targeted the attack on the Khiyam base of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Read more about Secretary-General proposes joint UN-Israeli inquiry into Lebanon peacekeeper deaths
The United Nations Security Council today discussed the future of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as the force reported further heavy exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) close to its positions in the south of the country. The 15-member body met with countries that contribute troops to UNIFIL before holding consultations that included a briefing by the Director of the Asia and Middle East Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, as well as discussing Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s latest report on the Force, a UN spokesman told reporters. In his report, which was released yesterday, Mr. Annan said the upsurge in violence since 12 July had “radically changed the context” in which the Force operates. Read more about Security Council debates UN force in south Lebanon amid more firing near its positions
The top United Nations aid official said today that Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip is a “disproportionate use of force” but he again emphasized that all sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were guilty of violating humanitarian law. Jan Egeland, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, made his comments while on a visit to Gaza as part of his continuing humanitarian mission to the region, from where he will travel to northern Israel tomorrow to see the destruction caused by Hezbollah rockets. “This was clearly a disproportionate use of force,” he said during a visit that included a health clinic damaged by Israeli incursions last week. Read more about Israel used disproportionate force in Gaza, says UN humanitarian chief