A mother and four of her young children under seven were killed in
their home yesterday by what Palestinian sources said were Israeli
missiles which landed at their door during an armoured incursion into
northern Gaza.

The Israeli military said it had been targeting nearby gunmen and
suggested the deaths had been caused when explosives it said were being
carried by two militants blew up. The children were about to eat
breakfast when they were killed.

The deaths of the children,
and the wounding of two older siblings, overshadowed efforts by Egypt
to broker a ceasefire between Israel and the armed factions in Gaza. At
least one militant and another unidentified man were killed by Israeli
forces during the incursion.

Palestinian medics identified the
dead children as sisters Rudina and Hana Abu Meatak, aged six and
three; and their brothers, Saleh, four, and Mousad, 15 months. Their
mother, Miyasar, who was in her late 30s, died later of wounds she
sustained. Seven rockets were later fired into Israel, three claimed by
Hamas in response to the deaths of the family.

The Palestinian
Centre for Human Rights said that, according to its preliminary
investigation, around 20 armoured vehicles moved over a kilometre into
northern Gaza at around 6am, and that at around 8.15am Israeli aircraft
had fired a missile at a group of militants. The missile landed 10
metres away from the Meatak home, seriously injuring a militant, it
said.

Less than a minute later, the PCHR said, two further
missiles were launched at the same area, landing at the door of the
same house and killing another militant. The centre said that shrapnel
from the missiles destroyed the door and sprayed around the house,
killing the children outright.

The Israeli military said there
had been a big explosion after it had targeted two gunmen from the air
“indicating the presence of bombs and explosives” in what it said had
been large bags being carried by the gunmen on their backs. The
military said it was a result of this explosion that the home had been
damaged and “uninvolved civilians” hit.

The children’s father,
Ahmad Abu Meatak, told Associated Press that he was on his way to a
nearby market when his home was hit. “What a black day. They killed my
family,” he said, sobbing outside the local hospital where the bodies
were taken.

After contradictory Israeli signals in response to
last week’s offer by Hamas for a six-month ceasefire in Gaza, an
Israeli official last night suggested that negotiations on the subject
were unnecessary. Instead, he said, if Hamas halted the firing of
mortars and rockets, Israel would respond by halting its own operations
in Gaza.

The Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak laid the blame
for civilian deaths on Hamas, saying: “Hamas is also responsible, by
way of its activity within the civilian population, for part of the
casualties among uninvolved civilians.”

The PCHR condemned a
“heinous crime” by the Israeli forces. Abu Mujahed, of the hardline
Popular Resistance Committees, said: “The blood of the children will
not be spilled in vain.”