SPORADIC Israeli shelling continued late last night in south Lebanon as today's ceasefire deadline of 4 a.m. approached.
There were no reports of serious incidents or injuries, although earlier in the day six shells landed close to UN bases, and there were regular Israeli aerial bomb attacks.
The deputy force commander of UNIFIL, Brig Gen Pierce Redmond, had warned earlier yesterday that the Israelis might be considering a ground incursion in south Lebanon.
Brig Gen Redmond, former aide de camp to the President, Mrs Robinson, said: "If this goes on and there is no solution, the next step could be a ground incursion as there has been a build up in the area of Matulla, which would suggest that they are going to make an incursion.
He said an incursion north of Matulla would take the Israelis into an area close to the Irish UN battalion, and he criticised an Israeli attack aimed at preventing food being delivered by the UN to trapped civilians.
The brigadier general said the Israeli offensive had been a disastrous and miserable failure, adding: "We are protecting the civilians and, because of that, they are not moving out in the numbers that the Israelis intended. They [the Israelis intended to clear south Lebanon, in fact."
He said the stated aim of the Israeli Grapes of Wrath operation was to stop Katyusha rockets being fired into Israel, but such attacks had increased to unprecedented levels. In the previous 15 years 450 Katyushas had been fired into north Israel while in the past two weeks alone more than 500 had been fired.
"If the mission is to stop Katyushas being fired into Israel it has failed miserably. The Katyushas are going in at a rate of 14 or 15 per day and that is down on last week. They [the Israelis] have had no success despite the massive effort put in."
He said there had been 559 air sorties by the Israeli air force 1.437 bombs dropped, 24,000 artillery, mortar and tank rounds fired, and on 260 occasions shells or bombs had landed in or near UN posts.
On Thursday a Finnish armoured personnel carrier was blown into the air when an Israeli bomb was dropped only 10 metres from it. The Finnish troops were protected by the armour plating on the vehicle. Brig Gen Redmond said the Israeli aircraft had then turned and dropped another bomb near the APC. The soldiers suffered minor injuries.
He went on: "It is completely out of proportion to the Hizbullah action. The Israelis stated that this is to stop Hizbullah firing rockets into Israel, but it has only demonstrated that Hizbullah can fire as many Katyushas as they want."
He said the Israelis had been deliberately hampering the United Nations from distributing relief supplies to the thousands of people trapped in villages in south Lebanon. They have cratered nearly every significant road in the UNIFIL area of operation. They have been making life uncomfortable for us and trying to reduce our humanitarian job and stop us moving.
"Their harassment will not work. We have opened roads, but our engineering reserves are limited. We expect the IDF will be watching us, and as soon as we fill any crater they will bomb another 100 yards down the road. They're doing enormous damage."
However, he expected that the displaced population, estimated at some 400,000, will return as soon as it is safe to do so.
Brig Gen Redmond, who returns to Ireland next month, said there had been great praise throughout the UN for the humanitarian work carried out by the Irish battalion in Lebanon. "They have performed magnificently," he said, rescuing people trapped in bombed villages and distributing food to those who stayed in their homes.