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Missiles fired from Qana to Israeli cities (IDF Graphic)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners July 30, 2006 |
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An investigation by the Israel Defense Forces has found an unexplained gap of about eight hours between the time the building was struck by the Air Force and the time it collapsed.
Brigadier General Amir Eshel, Head of the Air Force Headquarters told journalists at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv that "the attack on the structure in the Qana village took place between midnight and one in the morning. The gap between the timing of the collapse of the building and the time of the strike on it is unclear."
Eshel and the head of the IDF's Operational Branch, Major General Gadi Eisnkot, said the structure was not being attacked when it collapsed, at around 8:00 in the morning.
Some villagers, however, dispute that the collapse occurred at that time, saying that extensive damage occurred in the wee hours of the morning.
The IDF believes that Hezbollah explosives in the building were behind the explosion that caused the collapse. The officers who spoke at the briefing did not indicate whether they they thought the explosives were detonated accidentally or intentionally by the Hezbollah.
"It could be that inside the building, things that could eventually cause an explosion were being housed, things that we could not blow up in the attack, and maybe remained there, Brigadier General Eshel said.
"I'm saying this very carefully, because at this time I don't have a clue as to what the explanation could be for this gap," he added.
Another mystery is why the people who were in the basement of the building remainder there for seven to eight hours after it was struck. It is also unclear why the international media has not reported the eight hour gap, or explained why the building appeared to collapse at 8 am without any visible attack by Israeli forces.
Ben Wedeman of CNN was one of the few who called attention to the fact that the building did not appear to be significantly damaged by an Israeli attack before it collapsed suddenly around 8 am.
Eshel acknowledged that an additional attack took place at 7:30 in the morning, but added that other buildings were targeted. "This was an attack on three buildings 460 meters away from the structure we are talking about. Four bombs were dropped and all of them are documented by the planes' cameras. They all struck their targets. In addition, we carried out a filming sortie that photographed the village during the afternoon showing that the three targeted buildings we struck. We have verification of strikes on the building and that the bombs reached their targets," Eshel said.
"An attack that took place at two in the morning struck two targets, both of them 400 meters away from the building [that collapsed]. They were also destroyed. The attack between 12 and 1 a.m. struck the area of the affected house, and there were accurate strikes on the target. We are asking the question ? what happened between 1 in the morning and 8 in the morning.... We understand this building was attacked between 12 and 1 in the morning, seven hours before it was seriously damaged," he said.
Brigadier General Eshel highlighted the use of Kana as a logistics center for Hezbollah. He explained that "since the start of fighting in Lebanon 150 rockets from a very high number of rocket launchers have been fired from the village and its surrounding areas, at a number of sites in the State of Israel. Within the village itself we have located a diverse range of activities connected to firing of rockets, beginning from forces commanding this operation -- because such an operation needs ongoing command to direct it -- and logistical sites that serve this end."
"From this village rockets are fired almost every day across Israel. The operation carried out overnight is an extension of operations that didn't start last night but before, and during this night we struck a number of targets in the village. All of the targets are being meticulously filtered," Eshel added.
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