The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are noting the strange 8 hour gap between the attack on Qana and the colllapse of the apartment building which killed so many children.

"The attack on the structure in the Qana village took place between midnight and one in the morning. The gap between the timing of the collapse of the building and the time of the strike on it is unclear," Brigadier General Amir Eshel, Head of the Air Force Headquarters told journalists at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, following the incidents at Qana.

Eshel and the head of the IDF's Operational Branch, Major General Gadi Eisnkot said the structure was not being attacked when it collapsed, at around 8:00 in the morning.

The IDF believes that Hizbullah explosives in the building were behind the explosion that caused the collapse.

Another possibility is that the rickety building remained standing for a few hours, but eventually collapsed. "It could be that inside the building, things that could eventually cause an explosion were being housed, things that we could not blow up in the attack, and maybe remained there, Brigadier General Eshel said.

Buildings about half a kilometer away were attacked at 7:30 AM, so the ricklety building theory may have something to do with it, as vibrations might have triggered the collapse.

But why on earth were so many children and other presumed innocents inside the building 8 hours after it was attacked? Pardon my suspicions, but isn't this possibly a case of Hezbollah intentionally killing them, in order to have an effective propagando tool?

Of course, the nut—job Left in the United States has long claimed that 9/11 was an inside job, and that the Twin Towers and one other building were (for some obscure reason) demolished by controlled demoltion. But I think this is not at all comparable. There is an excellent propaganda gain for Hezbollah from the slaughter of innocents, and they are a group which has never been bothered by a few deaths of "martyrs."

Hat tip: Clarice Feldman   7 30 06

Update: Powerline asks an interesting question.

Update: Mideast On Target offers a timeline.