JERUSALEM — A new United Nations report that has been distributed to members of the Security Council strongly criticizes Israel for using live fire against unarmed demonstrators who tried in May to breach its border fence from Lebanon. Israel is planning to respond in detail shortly in a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, officials here said Thursday.

The United Nations has been a frequent battleground for Israel, whose diplomats are currently working to oppose a bid by the Palestinians for international recognition of statehood at the Security Council and the General Assembly this fall.

The report states that Israel first issued verbal warnings and fired into the air before directing live fire at the mostly Palestinian protesters, killing seven civilians and injuring 111. But other than firing in the air, it says, Israel did not employ “conventional crowd control methods or any other method than lethal weapons against the demonstrators.”

More broadly, the report deals with violations of Security Council Resolution 1701, which underpinned the cease-fire in the summer of 2006 that ended a monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant organization.