Israel Films Palestinians Loading Rocket into UN Vehicle, Demands Investigation

Israel demanded Sunday the UN investigate whether Palestinians filmed in the Gaza Strip were militants using a UN van to transport rockets for use against Israel. The pictures showed men running toward a vehicle with UN painted on the roof, carrying a long thin object which Israeli officials said was a Kassam rocket. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Gillerman, demanded that Secretary-General Kofi Annan order a full investigation. "This is a totally unacceptable situation...in which the UN, which is supposed to keep the peace, is cynically used by murderers to transport Kassam rockets in UN vehicles," Gillerman said.

Peter Hansen, the UNRWA commissioner-general, said he believed the object was a stretcher, since a Kassam rocket weighs "some 30 to 50 kg." Israeli military officials countered by saying the footage had been analyzed by aerial experts and they were certain it was a rocket. (Reuters)

According to the IDF website, the Kassam 1 rocket is about 2 meters long and weighs on average 5.5 kg. Acting IDF spokesperson Amit Livni said Sunday that most of the Kassam rockets fired at Sderot are of the Kassam 1 type. (Jerusalem Post)

In-Depth Issue:

Kassam Terrorists Captured on Film (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
See IDF videos:
Terrorists loading a Kassam rocket into a vehicle marked "UN" (1 Oct.)
Terrorists preparing an explosive charge in a Jabalya street (1 Oct.)
Terrorists launching a Kassam rocket near a crowded residential street (30 Sept.)
Terrorists preparing to bury an explosive charge, a land mine, in a crowded Jabalya street (30 Sep.)
Terrorists loading Kassam rockets into a vehicle in Gaza City and then transferring them into a home (20 Sep.)
See also The Production and Launching of Kassam Rockets from Gaza (IDF)