Shrapnel from beach blast not Israel's

from The Australian, June 15, 2006, by Martin Chulov, Middle East correspondent . . .

ISRAEL has formally denied that its artillery killed seven members of a Palestinian family on a Gazabeach last Friday after a military inquiry found the bomb shrapnel did not come from one of its shells.

...Mr Peretz said records showed artillery had ceased fire minutes before the beach explosion.
General Dan Halutz said the firing zone had been 700m away. He also said that every Israeli shell fired on Friday afternoon could be accounted for. "We checked each and every shell that was fired from the sea, the air and from the artillery on the land and we found out that we can track each and every one according to a timetable and according to the accuracy of where they hit the ground," General Halutz said.

Palestinians dismissed the Israeli claim last night after Human Rights Watch researcher and former Pentagon analyst Marc Galasco said evidence he had seen suggested a 155mm shell fired by Israel had caused the carnage. Speaking from Gaza, he said: "Based on what I have seen, I'd be shocked if it was anything other than that."

Israeli Defence officials, speaking anonymously, suggested that the killings had been caused by a mine, an old shell, or a booby-trap hidden under the beach sand by militants to strike at Israeli forces that had been secretly operating in the area. Three weeks earlier, an Israeli naval commando team had successfully infiltrated Gaza and attacked a team of Islamic Jihad militants as they prepared to launch Qassam rockets at Israel. Three militants were killed before the commandos withdrew by sea.

The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat last night was reporting comments from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that cast serious doubt on the Israeli claims. "The Israeli claim that the beach blast was caused by an explosive charge at the site sounds strange to me," Mr Annan is quoted as saying, in sharply critical remarks. "I don't believe it is plausible that the Palestinians planted charges in a place where civilians often spend their time." Mr Annan said a UN investigation into the incident was unlikely to get results, because neither side was likely to co-operate fully.

The Palestinian Authority has refused to hand over evidence from the scene of the explosion.
The shrapnel samples being held by Israel have been retrieved from victims being treated in Israeli hospitals.

Mr Peretz said intelligence officials were holding other information that supported the Israeli claims, which could not be released without compromising crucial sources. "We have enough findings confirming our big suspicion that the attempt to portray the incident as an Israeli incident is not true," he said. "I know this is very difficult to explain, but the facts accumulating prove that this was not caused by an Israeli incident." . . .