UNITED NATIONS, July 7 (UPI) -- A U.N. report criticizes Israel for being too quick to use deadly force against unarmed protesters who tried to pull down a fence on the border with Lebanon.
Seven civilians were killed and more than 100 were injured May 15, when about 10,000 people gathered for a demonstration on what Palestinians call Nakba Day, using the Arab word for catastrophe, the day Israel became independent.
The U.N. report said about 1,000 people left the main demonstration and engaged in "provocative" actions, including throwing stones and two Molotov cocktails, The New York Times said. Israeli soldiers responded with verbal warnings and shots fired into the air, followed by firing at the crowd.
Israeli forces did not use "conventional crowd control methods or any other method than lethal weapons against the demonstrators," the U.N. report said. The report also blamed the breakaway demonstrators and said both sides violated a cease-fire agreement signed at the end of Israel's incursion into Lebanon in 2006.
Lebanese troops used police truncheons, tear gas and other non-lethal methods of crowd control during the protest, the report said.
Israeli officials said Thursday they plan to respond in a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
