The quantity of blood found in the vehicles made it likely that the occupants "may have been badly injured and may succumb to their injuries,'' the UN report said. Undersecretary-General for Management Joseph Connor, who led the UN investigation into the handling of one of the videotapes, said that an October 9 report written by Gen. Ganesan Athmanathan, deputy commander of UNIFIL, described the amount of blood as "major deposits." This assessment was never disclosed to Israeli authorities.

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Israel would continue to act on the assumption that the soldiers were still alive. "The findings are not that pleasant, but they exist, and I hope that we will see all of the items in order to understand what happened," Ben-Eliezer said. "In my heart I believe they are alive and I will continue the struggle to bring them home."

An unnamed Defense Ministry official cited on the ynet website commented, "To the best of our knowledge, the [UN investigation] was not a medical committee which could determine if the soldiers survived or not." He added, "Our anger is due to the lack of sensitivity towards the families and the lack of knowledge regarding the condition of the soldiers."

Israel's UN Ambassador Yehuda Lancry said that a team of Israeli experts would arrive in New York in the next few days to meet U.N. officials and arrange for "rigorous scrutiny of all these items." Originally Israel had refused to view the edited version of the videotape filmed by UNIFIL soldiers and had demanded to receive a copy of the original tape.

Not one, but three videotapes
The UN report revealed the existence of not just one, but three videotapes, as well as 53 items taken by U.N. peacekeepers from the vehicles before they were handed over to Hizbullah members at gunpoint. These items included fake UN flags, stickers and UNIFIL license plates. Seven items, allegedly stained with the blood of the kidnapped IDF soldiers, were transferred to UN headquarters in New York.

The United Nations had originally denied the existence of the videotape filmed the day after the Hizbullah kidnapping. The second videotape portrays the Hizbullah's artillery bombardment of IDF positions on October 7 filmed by an unknown person. "The fact that the United Nations was in possession of a second videotape made on October 7 and whose existence was unknown in New York until July 16, is a matter of serious concern," Connor said.

A third videotape clip, apparently shown on Lebanese television on July 15, "purports to show still photographs of Hizbullah fighters during the abduction incident itself,'' the report said.

"Maybe contrary to some assumptions this material will shed light on the circumstances of the abduction,'' Lancry said. "Combined with our information, maybe it will be relevant."

Speaking at a news conference at UN headquarters on Friday, Connor emphatically denied there was a cover-up or that records were destroyed to "obfuscate the real picture of events."

"In the field, operational considerations were paramount," Connor said. "Humanitarian issues were put aside or not considered - there was a failure. Specifically, UNIFIL's assessment of the physical condition of those at the abduction site was not communicated to a Member State," he said referring to Israel.

In an official statement, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan pledged to take administrative measures "to ensure that such lapses in assessment and communication - within the UN chain of command and between the UN and Member Governments - do not recur."

Contrary to unconfirmed media reports, the UN report stated that there was no evidence of collaboration between soldiers in the Indian contingent in UNIFIL and the Hizbullah. Connor insisted that UNIFIL soldiers did not witness the kidnapping.

In the report's conclusion, the UN denied intentionally misleading Israel over the existence of the videotape filmed by UNIFIL peacekeepers. "The investigation team is convinced on the basis of the evidence that it has seen and heard that the mistakes made followed from lapses in judgment and failures in communication, not from conspiracies or mala fides (bad faith)," the report stated.

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