According to a German daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel's Wednesday edition, which quoted a German defense department official, who had been interviewed by a parliamentary committee in this regard, two Israeli F-16 fighter jets had flown over a German peacekeeping ship stationed near Rosh Hanikra, located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Western Galilee near the border with Lebanon, early on Tuesday and actually fired two shots at it. The paper also maintained that the two Israeli aircraft had actually switched on their infra-red devices in order to reject any potential missile attack that would have been triggered by the German vessel.

In reply, a representative of the Israeli Defence Forces confirmed on Wednesday that the jets belonging to the IDF had indeed been involved with a ship and a helicopter attached to the German troops in Lebanon, yet he dismissed all allegations pertaining to those jets firing any shots at the two.

The spokesman explained that the reason why the IAF jets were flying over the German ship was because a helicopter had taken off from the German aircraft carrier without undergoing the proper United Nations-established procedure of identifying itself. The situation was solved almost immediately, without any shots being fired, only flares being launched.

In addition to his statement, Defense Minister Amir Peretz reiterated the dismissal of the news according to which the IAF jets fired at the German vessel, highlighting that Israel does not have any reason to conduct such a military offensive against a friendly country. He added that even though Israel does want to develop more its coordination with UNIFIL peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, it does not pursue such actions; on the contrary it reduced flights to the minimum. He also stressed upon the fact that such flights, as rare as they are, do not pose any threats to the peace and security of the international peace efforts in Lebanon.

As far as UNIFIL officials were concerned, they declared in an interview with Channel Two on Wednesday that no complaints of shots being fired were submitted to them.