The Hindu : Front Page : 34 children among 54 killed in deadly Israeli air strike

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Monday, Jul 31, 2006

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34 children among 54 killed in deadly Israeli air strike

Atul Aneja

Families in the basement of a building in Qana bore the brunt of the attack

BEIRUT: An Israeli air strike on Sunday killed at least 54 civilians, including 34 children, in a town in south Lebanon, marking the deadliest bombing since the conflict began.

The attack in the town of Qana came when families were in the basement of a building, which received a direct hit. Survivors said that the impact was so strong that they could hardly move. Several elderly women and children were among the dead. Eyewitnesses said that some of the survivors screamed agonisingly, overcome with grief and anger. Distraught mothers held up and then embraced the bodies of their dead children, still wearing the pyjamas they had gone to sleep in.

Stunned by the scale of the carnage, some rescue workers, found it hard to proceed. Lebanon's Health Minister said that around 750 persons — mainly civilians — have been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon since the conflict began 19 days ago.

Protests in Beirut

The incident, which took place in the early hours on Sunday, triggered a violent demonstration in Beirut. Hundreds of protesters ransacked the United Nations headquarters in the city, denouncing the United States and Israel and chanting slogans supporting Hizbollah militants. Lebanese soldiers are guarding the building.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora cancelled talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He said there was "no room on this sad morning" for talks until Israel ceased its attacks. Mr. Siniora called the U.N. Secretary-General and demanded an urgent meeting of the Security Council. U.S. officials said Ms. Rice was returning to Washington on Monday to begin drafting a U.N. resolution that would aim at ending the fighting.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had earlier said that a ceasefire was possible after Israel had achieved its aims. After the incident, the Israeli military rejected responsibility for civilian deaths, and instead, blamed Hizbollah for using the village as a rocket-launching site.

"The Hizbollah used the village of Qana as a base to launch rockets and it bears responsibility that this area is a combat zone," army spokesman Jacob Dalal was quoted as saying. However, an Israeli Government statement later regretted the civilian deaths in Qana.

Sunday's air assault on the village came as Israeli forces made a new ground incursion into Lebanon across the southeastern border. A Hizbollah statement said its fighters were engaged in "fierce confrontations" with Israeli forces in the Taibe area. Israeli warplanes also bombed the main international border crossing between Lebanon and Syria leading to its closure.

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