In a Security Council briefing on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary-General Jane Lute said the base came under close Israeli fire 21 times, including 12 hits within 100m and four direct hits. UN officials in New York and Lebanon repeatedly protested to Israel in the hours before a bomb leveled the building and killed the four observers, she said.
In the final statement, the Security Council extended condolences to the families of the victims and the governments of Austria, Canada, China and Finland whose peacekeepers were killed in the attack.
The wife of the Canadian peacekeeper, Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedner, whose body has still not been recovered from the rubble, demanded an explanation from Israel. Cynthia Hess-von Kruedener told reporters in Kingston, Ontario, that she believes the attack, which involved precision guided missiles, was intentional. She said her husband told her the base had been fired on for weeks, despite its clear UN markings.
Earlier on Thursday, when it was unclear whether the council would agree on any statement, China's UN ambassador expressed frustration and warned that the council's failure to act could have an impact on other issues, including its current efforts to agree on a resolution that would make mandatory Iran's suspension of uranium enrichment.
Wang told reporters after the statement was approved that he remains frustrated at the difficult negotiations on such an important issue, and "this frustration, definitely I think, will affect this working relations somewhat, somewhere."
While he named no names, it was clear that Wang's frustration was aimed at the US.
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