The Israeli Supreme Court Tuesday ordered the inquiry commission responsible for the report to send letters alerting those officials who may be affected by the findings, giving them access to witnesses' statements in order to prepare their defense.
The order, which the commission members opposed, will force a delay of several months in publishing the report, court analysts told two private television channels.
A preliminary report in April denounced the 2006 conflict with Hezbollah as a "major failure" for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, as well as Israel's defense minister at the time, Amir Peretz, and armed forces chief, General Dan Halutz.
Although the commission did not call for their resignations, both Peretz and Halutz decided to quit, while Olmert declared he would stay on.
During 34 days of fighting last summer, more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, were killed while more than 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers, lost their lives.
Contrary to goals declared by Olmert when the fighting began, the Israeli operation ended without preventing the Shiite Hezbollah militia from firing rockets into Israel.
Nor did the war succeed in freeing two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah July 12 - the incident that triggered the more than month-long conflict.
© 2007 Agence France-Presse
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