Qana Massacre 1996: Israel Shells a UN Compound Sheltering 800

On the afternoon of 18 April 1996 Israeli occupation artillery shelled the compound of the UN Fijian battalion in the town of Qana, southern Lebanon, where more than 800 Lebanese civilians had taken refuge from the bombardment. About 106 of them were killed, many of them children, and hundreds were wounded. [1] [2] [3] [4]

A UN report concluded it was “unlikely” the shelling resulted from technical or procedural errors, and Amnesty International concluded that the occupation army “intentionally attacked the UN compound.” [1] [2] It is one of the Zionist massacres.

The Qana massacre at a glance

Operation “Grapes of Wrath”

On 11 April 1996, under the government of Shimon Peres, the occupation army launched a military operation against Lebanon called “Grapes of Wrath.” It lasted 17 days and ended with a written “understanding” on 26 April. [2]

The operation followed earlier Israeli invasions and assaults on Lebanon, most notably the 1978 invasion, the 1982 invasion and the July 1993 assault. During “Grapes of Wrath” more than 300,000 Lebanese were forced to flee their homes. [2] Many sought safety at UN positions in the south, including the Fijian battalion compound at Qana. [1]

The massacre: shells on a UN compound

Shortly after 2 p.m. on 18 April 1996, occupation artillery shells began falling on the UN compound at Qana, where more than 800 civilians were sheltering. [1] [2]

UN investigators found evidence of 13 detonations inside or directly above the compound and 4 very close to it, while clean-up operations destroyed further evidence. They found that the occupation army used proximity fuses, which explode in the air above the target, and that “almost all the proximity fuses were used in the area of the United Nations compound,” multiplying the deaths among those sheltering. [1]

The journalist Robert Fisk, who reached the scene, described dismembered children and a girl cradling her dead father. [4] The survivor Jamil Salame recalls: “All I could see was fire and blood.” The Balhas family alone lost 31 of its members. [3]

The toll

Operation “Grapes of Wrath” as a whole killed 154 Lebanese civilians and 5 soldiers and wounded 351 civilians, according to Lebanese military records cited by Amnesty International. [2] Its other massacres included the strike on an ambulance carrying people fleeing al-Mansuri on 13 April, which killed six, among them four girls, and the strike on a house in Upper Nabatiyeh on 18 April, which killed a mother and seven of her children. [2]

The UN report: not a mistake

The occupation army claimed the shelling was a response to mortar rounds fired by Hizbullah fighters from a site about 220 metres from the compound, and that some of its shells “overshot.” It later attributed what happened to “a combination of technical and procedural errors and chance.” [1]

But the report by the Secretary-General’s Military Adviser, Major-General Franklin van Kappen, refuted this account:

• The report identified two concentrations of impacts about 140 metres apart, with proximity fuses concentrated over the UN compound, and the occupation army could not explain the two concentrations. [1]
• The occupation army denied that helicopters or drones were over the area, but the report established that two helicopters and a remotely piloted vehicle were in the area. [1]
• The report concluded that “it is unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of gross technical and/or procedural errors.” [1]

Amnesty International went further, concluding that “the IDF intentionally attacked the UN compound, although the motives for doing so remain unclear,” and that it had not substantiated its claim that the attack was a mistake. [2]

After the massacre

The victims of Qana were buried in a mass grave beside the UN compound on 30 April 1996. [4] Today a simple memorial in the town bears the names of the 106 victims. [3]

The UN General Assembly decided that Israel should bear the cost of the damage to the UN compound at Qana, set at $1,773,618 and revised in 1999 to $1,284,633. [5] No one has been held to account for killing the civilians.

Conclusion

More than 800 Lebanese civilians took refuge in the UN compound at Qana, believing the blue flag would protect them. Instead, occupation artillery rained down shells that burst above their heads, killing about 106. Though the UN ruled out a mistake and Amnesty found the attack deliberate, no one was held accountable. Ten years later Qana would suffer a second massacre.

Frequently asked questions about the 1996 Qana massacre

When did the Qana massacre take place?

On the afternoon of 18 April 1996, during Israel’s Operation “Grapes of Wrath” against Lebanon.

How many people were killed in the 1996 Qana massacre?

About 106 according to the Qana memorial and 102 according to Amnesty International, with hundreds wounded.

Where did the Qana massacre take place?

At the compound of the Fijian battalion of the UN force (UNIFIL) in the town of Qana, southern Lebanon.

Was the shelling of Qana a mistake, as the occupation claimed?

The UN report concluded it was “unlikely” to be a mistake, and Amnesty International concluded the attack was intentional.

What is the difference between the first and second Qana massacres?

The first was on 18 April 1996, when the UN compound was shelled; the second was on 30 July 2006, during the Israeli war on Lebanon.

Sources and references

1. Letter from the UN Secretary-General to the President of the Security Council transmitting the report of his Military Adviser, Major-General Franklin van Kappen, on the shelling of the UN compound at Qana, document S/1996/337, 7 May 1996.
2. “Israel/Lebanon: Unlawful Killings during Operation ‘Grapes of Wrath’,” Amnesty International, MDE 15/42/96, 1 July 1996.
3. “Two Decades of Pain: Lebanese Village Still Reeling from Israeli ‘Massacre’,” Middle East Eye, 2016.
4. Robert Fisk, eyewitness account from Qana, Dawn (via The Independent), 20 April 2017.
5. UN General Assembly resolution 53/227, “Financing of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon,” 8 June 1999.