A Canadian inquiry blamed Israeli forces for the killing of four U.N. observers during the Second Lebanon War.
An Israeli airstrike on a United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) post in southern Lebanon on July 26, 2006 was “tragic and preventable,” a Canadian Forces investigative report delivered last Friday said.
“The board was unable to determine if a specific individual was to blame for the death; the board does however find that, as an organization, the IDF is responsible,” it added, complaining of limited cooperation from Israeli authorities in the probe.
One of the four UNTSO staff killed in the shelling was from Canada. The others were from China, Austria and Finland.
Israel apologized for the incident, calling it an accident. The U.N. secretary-general at the time, Kofi Annan, stirred ire in Jerusalem by calling the attack “intentional.”
Israel’s Winograd Commission of inquiry into the war, which published its conclusions last week, provided no new details on the controversial shelling.
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