2006 Qana airstrike

File:Child female victim of the 2006 Israeli Airstrike on Qana.jpg

A Lebanese girl killed in the 2006 Israeli airstrike on Qana, 30 July 2006.

The 2006 Qana airstrike was launched by the Israel Air Force (IAF) on the South Lebanese village of Qana, on 30 July 2006, during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. Considerable controversy ensued over the propriety of the attack (see reactions below).

The airstrike caused the collapse of a three-story building onto its bomb shelter, where (according to initial reports) at least 63 people were reported to be hiding. Most media reports from July 30 indicated the casualties to be more than 50, including 37 children, but a Human Rights Watch report of August 2 cites a lower figure of 28, including 19 children, with a possible 13 buried under the rubble.

AFP reported that nearly half of the children killed were physically or mentally handicapped children awaiting evacuation. The BBC reported that although Israeli officials have stated that leaflets had been dropped in the area warning civilians to leave their homes, Israel had been bombing civilian cars and convoys on the roads and many residents were too afraid to move and leave their homes or had no means of transport. Testimonies from Qana maintain that the building was struck twice in the course of ten minutes. Red Cross workers and residents of Qana told IPS news service that no Hezbollah rockets were launched from the city before the Israeli air strike.

Timeline according to residents

According to residents the timeline was:

• IAF bombed the building which is located in the Hariva neighborhood of Qana around 1:00 A.M.
• Following initial strike, some of the people in the building exited in an attempt to survey the damage.
• Within ten minutes, a second IAF airstrike hit the building, causing the walls to collapse on the residents who did not vacate, killing them in the process.

Medical and humanitarian response

Sami Yazbuk, the head of the Red Cross in Tyre, told the Guardian that the first call about the bombing was received at 7 AM. He claimed that previous shelling on the road to Qana had delayed the arrival of Red Cross personnel.

Position of Lebanon

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the Qana bombing made the need for a settlement more urgent. He denounced "Israeli war criminals" and cancelled talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Prime Minister Siniora appealed to the U.N. Security Council for an emergency session, which held consultations on July 30, 2006.

Position of Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed regret over the incident and apologized for the pain the Lebanese people have endured but said that residents had been warned to leave the area. Olmert said that Hezbollah used Qana to store and fire Katyusha rockets, and used the villagers as human shields. "We will not blink in front of Hezbollah and we will not stop the offensive despite the difficult circumstances."

The IDF has claimed that the airstrike was in response to over 150 Katyusha rockets fired from the village into Israel in a two week period. In addition, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman accused Hezbollah of possibly being responsible for the civilian deaths: "Israel has [beseeched] and asked repeatedly for the residents of Qana to leave. I would not be surprised if the Hezbollah made them stay."

On July 31, in response to global criticism, Israel agreed to suspend air strikes over southern Lebanon for up to 48 hours, which would allow for further civilian evacuations from the area, as well as investigation of the incident, but would not refrain from responding to imminent threats.

Timeline according to the IDF

• A high-ranking IAF officer said 31 July that the IDF had targeted the village since July 28, when it struck 10 targets there, and that the building that was hit on July 30 was chosen as a target after Israeli intelligence indicated that Hezbollah militants along with Katyusha rockets and launchers were hidden inside. The IDF also said they believed the building to be empty. "We warned the residents that we would be attacking there," the high-ranking officer said. "We work under the belief that the villages are empty and that whoever is there is affiliated with Hezbollah."

• According to the IAF Chief of Staff, Brigadier-General Amir Eshel, missiles struck the building a little after midnight. He also stated that he didn't know when the building collapsed, but "according to foreign press reports, and this is one of the reports we are relying on, the house collapsed at 8 A.M. We do not have testimony regarding the time of the collapse. If the house collapsed at 12 A.M., it is difficult for me to believe that they waited eight hours to evacuate it."

• Senior IAF officers said that the collapse could have been caused by an unexploded missile or by a Hezbullah-planted explosive device.

• The IDF did not release footage of the airstrike itself, but did release a video it said was taken some time before the incident showing Katyusha rockets being fired from near Qana, and rocket launchers being hidden in residential areas of the village.

Investigations into the incident

IDF investigation

On August 2, the IDF investigation concluded its investigation. It maintained that the building, thought to have been empty, "was struck at 00:25 Sunday by two bombs launched by the IAF. One of the bombs exploded and the other was apparently a dud." It also accused Hezbollah of using human shields.

Human Rights Watch

According to the Human Rights Watch on 2 August, the initial estimate of 54 persons killed was based on a register of 63 persons who had sought shelter in the basement, and the rescue teams first having located only nine survivors. However, it was later established that 22 had escaped the basement and that 28 bodies had been recovered, whereof 16 were children. There were still 13 people missing, and locals feared they were buried in the rubble. Human Rights Watch also added that its own researchers, who visited Qana on 31 July, the day after the attack, did not find any destroyed military equipment in or near the house. "Similarly, none of the dozens of international journalists, rescue workers and international observers who visited Qana on July 30 and 31 reported seeing any evidence of Hezbollah military presence in or around the home. Rescue workers recovered no bodies of apparent Hezbollah fighters from inside or near the building."

Bomb details

A piece of bomb fuselage bearing the markings (in English) "FOR USE ON MK-84 GUIDED BOMB BSU-37/B", plus various serial numbers, was reportedly unearthed by Lebanese Civil Defence officials at the scene of the bombing and was seen by the international media. The BSU 37/B is a bomb stabilization unit which is used to provide a precision-guidance capability to the Mk 84 bomb, a United States-made general-purpose bomb which weighs around 2,000 lb (900 kg). Israel received some 2,500 Mk 84s equipped with precision-guidance systems in an arms transfer agreed with the United States Government in 2004.

Reactions

Main article: International reactions to the 2006 Qana airstrike

International reactions to the 2006 Qana airstrike involved the condemnation of Israel by many countries, bringing about a partial 48 hours cessation of air operations by the IAF. Human Rights Watch labelled the attack a "possible war crime".

Some commentators have pointed out similarities to the 1996 shelling of Qana, in which over 100 civilians were killed by Israeli anti-personnel shells. In both cases, the IDF was acting in response to repeated rocket attacks by Hezbollah, and both incidents resulted in increased pressure on Israel to declare a cease-fire. Qana's strategic location at the confluence of five major roadways and on the northern edge of Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon may have contributed as to its repeatedly being caught in the crossfire.

Allegations of a hoax

Some commentators have alleged that some or all of the loss of life reported during the Qana attack was either faked (by planting previously-killed corpses) or done by Hezbollah fighters themselves, in order to generate anti-Israel sympathy. Evidence cited for this claim includes conflicting reports about the time and nature of the incident, a Lebanese news website that claimed Hezbollah had destroyed the building, and a large banner protesting the incident that appeared suspiciously soon afterwards. On August 2, the Israel Defense Forces stated they were "aware of the rumors", and were looking into the allegations.

Others have claimed that some widely-circulated images of the dead have been staged, though the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse news agencies have all strongly denied that.

A French-language Christian Lebanese website, Libanoscopie, said on 30 July that "a source" has told it that Hezbollah had arranged the disaster by keeping crippled children there in Qana and then launch rockets to provoke an Israeli attack, thus creating a "Qana 2" which would stop Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's attempt to disarm Hezbollah.

External links

• Video of the scene of the air strike in the morning from Al Manar TV Template:Ar icon
• Undated Israeli Aerial Surveillance footage of Hezbollah rockets launched South West outside Qana Template:En icon Template:He icon

Frontline photographs

Warning: the following links contain graphic wartime imagery.

• CNN Photographs of the Israel Airstrike on Qana
• Pictures From Qana