New York  - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who criticized Israel for the deaths of UN relief workers, on Thursday also condemned the firing of rockets from Lebanon into Israel.

Ban said in a statement that he was "relieved that today's incident did not escalate" and urged both sides "to exercise maximum restraint."

Israeli Defense Forces in northern Israel returned fire and the UN peacekeeping force at the Lebanon-Israel border launched an investigation into the incident. (dpa)