Israeli airstrike kills dozens of civilians

Read the story below - from Canada's biggest news agency. Other reports confirm this story and report that at least 37 of the victims were children. Notice Israeli excuses itself by saying they told civilians to leave. Imagine that, leave your town or we will kill you. This is the basis behind ethnic cleansing. Military analysts have also reported that Israel is using bigger and more destructive bombs than they need to for this operation - which is illegitimate anyway. They could use heavier but less destructive bombs that would take out one building at a time. Instead they are using 20-ton bombs that take out entire blocks. They are just destroying the country - indiscriminate killing. No history of suffering can justify inflicting this kind of suffering on other people. Two wrongs does not make a right, and this is WRONG.

CBC News: Israeli airstrike kills dozens of civilians

Last Updated Sun, 30 Jul 2006 12:46:17 EDT
CBC News

At least 57 people, many of them women and children, were killed early Sunday in an Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese town of Qana, Lebanese security officials said.

Hezbollah supporters, furious over Sunday's Israeli air strike in Qana, storm their way into the main UN building in Beirut. (Ben Curtis/Associated Press) Hezbollah supporters, furious over Sunday's Israeli air strike in Qana, storm their way into the main UN building in Beirut. (Ben Curtis/Associated Press)

Those who died were inside a building that had collapsed. Video footage showed at least 20 bodies wrapped in white sheets at the scene.

Lebanese officials said the civilians killed had taken refuge in the basement of the building when bombs fell before dawn.

Israeli officials said the neighbourhood was targeted based on intelligence that Hezbollah fighters had used it to launch rockets at northern Israel, including 40 that landed earlier on Sunday.

They also said civilians were warned several days ago to leave Qana.

In 1996, Israeli shelling killed 102 people in Qana. Most of the victims were women and children in that incident, as well. They were taking refuge in a United Nations building during an earlier Israeli offensive against Hezbollah.

In response to the latest Israeli bombing raid, a crowd of men ransacked the main United Nations building in Beirut. Hezbollah supporters scaled fences, threw rocks and smashed windows before entering the ground floor of the building.

Rice cancels trip to Beirut

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cancelled a planned visit to Beirut on Sunday, hours after the air strike.

Rice told a press conference in Jerusalem that during a meeting with the Israeli defence minister, she reiterated the U.S. stance that Israel should be more careful in its targeting to minimize civilian casualties.

She said she is "deeply saddened by the terrible loss of innocent life," but insisted the United States was working hard to achieve a ceasefire.

"In the wake of the tragedy that the people of Lebanon are facing today, I have decided to postpone my trip to Beirut," Rice said. "In any case, my work today is here [in Israel]."

Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said he himself had requested that Rice not travel to the Lebanese capital in light of the Qana attack.

"There is no place at this sad moment for any discussions other than an immediate and unconditional ceasefire as well as international investigation of the Israeli massacres in Lebanon now," he told reporters.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed "great sorrow" for the airstrikes but said Hezbollah was to blame for using the area to attack Israel.

Rice is making her second trip to the Middle East since the crisis began two and a half weeks ago. Among the items Rice is seeking is an international agreement on a UN-mandated multinational force that offcials hope will provide stability in the region.