UN Observers Die

Yesterday four unarmed UN observers from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, died after their UN post in the town of Khiam was hit by an Israeli air strike on Tuesday. Five UNIFIL soldiers and one military observer had also been wounded.

A senior Irish soldier working for the UN forces had warned the Israelis six times that their bombardment was endangering the lives of UN staff, Ireland's foreign ministry said. Had Israel responded to the requests, "rather than deliberately ignoring them", the observers would still be alive

Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, said he was shocked at Israel's "apparently deliberate targeting" of a UN post in Lebanon.

Since this incident, many countries that form part of UNIFIL have removed their staff because of the dangers.




It’s not the first time members of the U.N. have come under fire from Israel:

An Israeli tank shell had hit a UNIFIL position in southern Lebanon on Monday, wounding four Ghanaian soldiers. Shrapnel from tank shells fired from the Israeli side seriously wounded an Indian soldier last week.

In 1996, during Israel's Grapes of Wrath campaign in Lebanon, an Israeli jet bombed a UNIFIL compound in the southern village of Qana, killing 106 civilians sheltering inside.

Israel has also attacked UN Ambulances & Red Cross Staff:

Yesterday, Israeli Air Strike blew away a Red Cross ambulance in Lebanon. Apparently the pilots will need to have their eyes tested after they claimed that they could not see the Red Cross sign on top of the ambulance.

April 14, 1996, an Israeli helicopter spotted an ambulance moving up a road near Tyre and hit it with a rocket, killing 3 small children, their mother and 3 other women.

In October 2004, the Israeli military attacked a United Nations Relief and Works Agency ambulance.

Israel alleged that the UN ambulances were used by the Palestinians to move rockets.
They also declared that these ambulances were carrying body parts of fallen Israeli soldiers.

"When challenged to produce the evidence backing up this claim, or to retract the statement and offer an apology, Israeli ministers were not able to provide any response and have remained silent.