UN: Precision missiles hit UNTSO post

UN military personnel on the ground along the Israel-Lebanon border say the munitions that hit the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) position early Wednesday were precision-guided, a UN source told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. [sic]

Furthermore, the source added, the strike came after repeated requests by UNTSO commanders to the IDF not to strike that specific position.
The IDF spokesman told The Jerusalem Post that the army was looking into the allegations and that it deeply regretted the "tragic death" of the UN personnel.

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"Very senior and experienced military personnel report that the UN position was hit by a precision-guided missile. This attack comes at a time when the international community is in discussions with countries about donating troops to form a new force [to send to south Lebanon]. This attack plays very badly into that. At the same time as donor countries have to justify to their electorate the idea of sending their sons to this region to put their lives on the line, Israel blows up a UN observation position and kills four of its personnel," the source said, adding that Israel was "shooting itself in the foot, and sending a very bad signal" to the international community.

From a Reuters wire I quoted in the Breakfast this morning, here is what Kofi Annan said:

"(This) attack on a long established and clearly marked U.N. post at Khiam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by (Israeli) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would be spared Israeli fire," Annan said in a statement.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- About 50 Israeli tanks moved back into northern Gaza early Wednesday and five Palestinians were killed in airstrikes as Israel pressed ahead with its nearly month-long Gaza offensive.

Israeli aircraft carried out at least three airstrikes as the troops moved in, killing five people and wounding 15, hospital officials said. Two of the five dead were militants, but the other three were not immediately identified, they said.

The Israeli military said forces were operating in northern Gaza as part of a campaign to stop terrorism and rocket barrages at Israel. The military said aircraft targeted three groups of militants who were approaching the troops. Exchanges of fire between the two sides were reported through the night.

A number of Israeli tanks and bulldozers also crossed into southern Gaza near Khan Younis on Tuesday, witnesses said.

Here's an update from AFP:

12 Palestinians killed as Israel pounds Gaza

GAZA CITY: Twelve Palestinians, including a toddler, were killed on Wednesday as Israel pounded Gaza with air strikes and spearheaded a fresh incursion, one day after president Mahmud Abbas demanded a ceasefire.

Nearly 130 Palestinians have now been killed in Israel's offensive in Gaza, increasingly sidelined as the world focuses on a deadlier conflict in Lebanon but waged in order to recover a captured soldier and stop rocket attacks.

As world diplomats opened a conference in Rome seeking to halt the bloodshed between Israel and the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, 12 Palestinians were killed in multiple Israeli attacks in eastern Gaza City, medics said.

At least six of the dead were named militants, including four from the armed wing of the governing Hamas movement, one of the three hardline groups to claim responsibility for the June 25 raid in which Corporal Gilad Shalit was seized.  

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Gunfire erupted on the ground as Israel stepped up its nearly five-week offensive after a relative lull that has nonetheless put soldiers back in impoverished Gaza less than 10 months after they ended a 38-year presence.

Security sources reported heavy exchanges of fire as Israeli troops thrust about two kilometres (just over a mile) from the border with Israel.  

Apart from six named militants, a three-year-old girl, a male resident and a 17-year-old boy were among the dead, medics said.

By Reuters

Lebanese security forces have rounded up at least 36 people suspected of spying for Israeli intelligence amidst a two-week old conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, security sources said on Wednesday.

With the help of Hezbollah, security forces detained the informants, many of them former members of a now defunct pro-Israeli militia, in the eastern Bekaa Valley and the south, which have seen heavy Israeli bombardment, they said.

Some of the former members of Israel's South Lebanon Army proxy, which collapsed when Israel Defense Forces troops withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, had served jail sentences for working with an enemy state but had resumed their contacts with Israel after their release, the sources said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/743148.html

If confirmed, it would be the largest death toll suffered by the Israeli military in a single attack since the offensive began two weeks ago.

The Israeli military said there were 20 Israeli casualties, but it would not say if any soldiers had been killed.

Israeli TV reported 13 casualties, but was not more specific. Israel Radio said ''at least 10 Israeli soldiers had been hit'' in heavy fighting against 200 Hezbollah guerrillas in the town. The radio did not specify if any Israelis were killed.

The Israeli army said several Hezbollah fighters had taken cover in a local mosque.

A senior Hezbollah official, Mahmoud Komati, told The Associated Press that Israeli forces had managed to seize a few points inside Bint Jbail, but had not yet taken the town center.

Hezbollah said ''violent confrontations'' were taking place between its fighters and Israeli forces attempting to advance toward a hospital in Bint Jbail.

Fighting also has been heavy for days around the border towns of Aitaroun and Maroun al-Ras, where Israeli forces are trying to eliminate the guerrillas who have been firing rockets into Israel. The area controls the high ground in the central sector of the Lebanese-Israeli border.

www.nytimes.com

Since 2000, Hizbullah violated the Blue Line on the Israeli-Lebanese border 100 times, while Israeli violated that line 11,782 times. (These numbers are based on UN observers and were cited by Lebanese Speaker of Parliament in his interview with Al-Arabiya TV).

Dissent grows in Israel over Lebanon
Olmert's government faces a barrage of criticism over its handling of the war, reports Ian Black from Jerusalem. [Guardian Unlimited World Latest]

Perhaps it's a message about the need for future peacekeeping missions to actually have the charter and willingness to do something other than just sit around and watch.

The film "No Man's Land" is a commentary on this topic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man's_Land_(film)