'Nothing can justify' Israeli bombing of Qana: EU

Rescue workers carry a dead body through the rubble after Israeli air strikes on the southern Lebanese village of Qana yesterday. At least 52 people were killed, 30 of them children, when Israeli war planes blitzed Qana, the deadliest single strike since the Jewish state unleashed its war on Hezbollah 19 days ago. PHOTO: AFP

The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Sunday that nothing could justify the deadly Israeli bombing of the village of Qana.

"I have talked to the Prime Minister of Lebanon, Mr Fuad Siniora. I have expressed to him my profound dismay and deep sorrow at the attack and the death of innocent civilians in Qana. Nothing can justify that," Solana said in a statement issued in Brussels.

"I have transmitted to him that the European Union is continuously working to reach an immediate ceasefire," he said.

The United Nations condemned an Israeli strike on a village in southern Lebanon on Sunday, which killed 51 people, including several children, and called for an immediate inquiry.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's representative Geir Pedersen said he was "deeply shocked and saddened by the killing of tens of Lebanese civilians, including many children in Qana, south Lebanon, and calls for immediate ceasefire and investigation," a statement said.

"I strongly condemn today's killing of tens of civilians by the Israeli shelling of residential buildings in the village of Qana. This tragic event demonstrates the urgency for all parties to heed the United Nations repeated calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities," he said.

Pedersen said "civilians have been paying the heaviest price for this war and I reiterate calls by the secretary general of the United Nations to all parties concerned to respect international humanitarian laws and spare the civilians further suffering and loss."

"Earlier this month, the secretary general condemned all actions that target civilians and civilian infrastructure and the high commissioner for human rights called for accountability for any breeches of international humanitarian law," he said.

"We call for an immediate investigation of this incident," he said.

Protestors attacked and broke into the UN headquarters in downtown Beirut, furious about the Israeli raids on Qana.

UN staff in the building sought refuge in an underground basement, an employee told AFP.

Qana was where an Israeli bombing of a United Nations base on April 18, 1996 killed 105 people who had taken refuge during Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" offensive.

The United States reiterated Sunday its support for Israel in the Middle East crisis, and urged the Jewish state to use restraint.

White House spokesman Blaine Rethmeier, asked by AFP for a response to the Israeli attack Sunday on the southern Lebanese village of Qana, said there was no change in position.

The United States "continues to urge Israel to use restraint," Rethmeier said in a telephone interview.

Israel has the "right to defence," he said, recalling previous White House statements expressing strong support of Israel since the conflict began on July 12.

Israel unleashed its firepower on Qana after flatly rejecting a United Nations call for a 72-hour truce to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Lebanon.