Israel: On winning friends and influencing people

Israel Shells UN Headquarters In Gaza

Israel shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, engulfing the compound and the main warehouse in fire and destroying thousands of pounds of food and humanitarian supplies intended for Palestinian refugees.

The U.N. chief, in Israel for the day, demanded a "full explanation."

A senior Israeli military officer said Israeli troops shelled after coming under fire from Palestinian militants inside the compound _ an account dismissed by a U.N. official there at the time as "nonsense."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is in the region to end the devastating offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers, said the Israeli defense minister told him there had been a "grave mistake."

Rice shame-faced by Bush over UN Gaza vote: Olmert

"In the night between Thursday and Friday, when the secretary of state wanted to lead the vote on a ceasefire at the Security Council, we did not want her to vote in favour," Olmert said.

"I said 'get me President Bush on the phone'. They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn't care. 'I need to talk to him now'. He got off the podium and spoke to me.

"I told him the United States could not vote in favour. It cannot vote in favour of such a resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote in favour."