Israel’s Army Reacts to U.N. Shelling Report

Stung by a U.N. report that accused Israel of deliberately shelling a refugee camp in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army released a video Wednesday indicating that a reconnaissance plane was not used to target the U.N. base.

The United Nations stopped short of saying that Israel intentionally targeted the Qana camp on April 18, killing about 100 civilians, but the report released Tuesday said it was unlikely the shelling was an accident or a technical failure.

At first, Israel denied that a pilotless reconnaissance plane, or drone, flew over southern Lebanon the day of the shelling. But Israel’s version of events was called into question after an amateur video broadcast Monday proved that a drone was present.

To defend itself, Israel released four minutes of a 50-minute video recording made by the drone and transmitted live to army officials. The drone had been on a mission to locate Hezbollah guerrilla positions when it was diverted to Qana to investigate reports that the U.N. camp was being shelled, Israeli officials said.

The clip shown to reporters seemed to support Israel’s contention that the drone arrived over the base after shelling had occurred. The first image shows a column of smoke rising from a cluster of buildings.

The footage, taken from a height of 4,000 feet, also seemed to support Israeli statements that the pictures were taken from too great a distance to identify civilians.

“We didn’t know civilians were there,” said Lt. Col. Moshe Fogel, adding that Israeli gunners trying to hit Hezbollah guerrillas had miscalculated by 150 yards and hit the U.N. base by accident.

The U.N. report questioned that explanation. Maj. Gen. Frank van Kappen, a Dutch officer who headed the investigation, said the pattern of artillery shell impacts “is inconsistent with a normal overshooting.”

While Israel slammed the U.N. report as too harsh, the Lebanese mission to the United Nations on Wednesday urged the Security Council to condemn Israel outright for the shelling.