GAZA CITY, Oct 2 (AFP) - The UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Sunday denied Israeli claims that it allowed Palestinian militants to use one of its ambulances to transport Qassam rockets during fierce fighting in northern Gaza.
A diplomatic storm blew up between Israel and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) on Saturday after the army released grainy footage of what it claimed were Palestinian militants using a UN ambulance to transport rockets.
But UNRWA chief Peter Hansen said on Israeli public television that the pictures showed nothing more than paramedics throwing a folded portable stretcher into the vehicle.
"They were ambulance drivers and orderlies who were putting a portable stretcher into the car," he told Channel 1.
"I am very sure it is not a Qassam missile, from all descriptions, even though I am not a military expert," he said, adding that such a rocket would weigh at least 32 kilograms (70 pounds).
"You saw a long thin object, about 1.80 metres (yards) long, being carried by one man in one hand, even jogging with it and then he threw it into an ambulance ...
"If you study the movement on the video, it would have to be a very strong man to carry such an object so easily."
Wael Ghabayen, a 38-year-old paramedic who has worked at a UN-run clinic in Jabaliya refugee camp since 1989, told reporters at a press conference in Gaza City that he was one of the figures seen in the video.
"I went to the area and into the (UN) school to evacuate the injured, but when I got there there was nobody left," he said.
"As I went into the school and came out, there were tanks dozens of metres (yards) away. If any gunman was near us or was using our ambulance, they would have shot him," he said.
Israel has said its ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gilerman, will on Monday lodge a strong protest with the international agency, calling for Hansen's dismissal.
But Hansen said he was not worried about the Israeli threat.
"Israel doesn't make unilateral decisions in the UN yet," he told Channel 1. "What I am worried about is that such serious allegations are made on such a flimsy basis. This is not to my mind responsible behaviour befitting an army of reknown and reputation like the Israeli army."
Israeli chief of staff Moshe Yaalon on Sunday added his voice to the growing chorus of Israeli officials denouncing the agency.
"This is not the first time (UN vehicles) have been used to transport terrorists and weapons. We have seen it on a couple of occasions. I think the pictures speak for themselves," he said.