Israel strike kills at least 54
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-07-31 06:37
QANA, Lebanon, July 30 - An Israeli air strike killed at least 54
Lebanese civilians, including 37 children, on Sunday, fuelling world pressure
for a ceasefire in Israel's war in Lebanon against Hizbollah guerrillas.
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| Medical personnel line up bodies outside Tyre hospital after an
Israeli air raid on Qana killed at least 54 civilians, including 37
children, in south Lebanon, July 30, 2006. [Reuters] |
| The raid
on the southern village of Qana -- the bloodiest single attack in Israel's
19-day-old war on Hizbollah -- aborted U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice's mediation efforts. Lebanon told her she was unwelcome in Beirut for
talks.
Israel has agreed to suspend its aerial bombardment of southern Lebanon for
48 hours to allow for an investigation into the attack, U.S. State Department
spokesman Adam Ereli told a briefing in Jerusalem.
He said Israeli authorities will also coordinate with the United Nations to
allow a 24-hour window for residents in southern Lebanon to leave the area if
they wish.
Rescue workers dug through the rubble with their hands for hours, lifting out
the twisted, dust-caked corpses of children.
A Lebanese foreign ministry official told an urgent session of the U.N.
Security Council that more than 60 people were killed, mostly women and
children. But police in Lebanon put the death toll at 54, including 37 children.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council to condemn the
attack and call for an immediate end to hostilities. "I am deeply dismayed that
my earlier calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities were not heeded,"
Annan said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed "deep sorrow" at the bombing,
but vowed the war against Hizbollah would go on.
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman told the Security Council that Qana was
"a hub for Hizbollah" and said Israel had beseeched the residents of the village
to leave. But Lebanon said Israeli air strikes on roads and vehicles made it
impossible for people in the south to flee.
As anger convulsed Lebanon and the Arab world, protesters smashed their way
into the United Nations headquarters in downtown Beirut as thousands massed
outside chanting "Death to Israel, Death to America".
Gunmen also stormed the U.N. compound in Gaza City during a protest over the
Qana bombing. At least two people were wounded.
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