Israeli victims in Hebron were military, UN spokesman says, urging broad solution

Victims of what was initially reported as an attack on Israeli civilians in Hebron were in fact military personnel, a United Nations spokesperson reported today, urging a broad approach to resolving the Middle East conflict.

Responding to questions about a statement issued Friday on behalf of Secretary-General Kofi Annan concerning the incident, Hua Jiang said, “The information available to us when the statement was issued was that the victims were Israeli civilians returning from religious service.”

“Subsequently, it now appears that the Israeli victims were in fact soldiers and security personnel,” she noted.

The Secretary-General, who remains “deeply concerned” about the continuing spiral of violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, “continues to believe that only a comprehensive solution developed through a process that addresses political, security, humanitarian and economic issues in parallel can ensure real security for both the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Ms. Jiang stressed.