Relatives of four children and their mother killed during an Israeli operation against militants in Gaza mourned during their funeral on Monday.
JERUSALEM — A Palestinian mother and her four young children were killed in northern Gaza on Monday during an Israeli operation against militants there, and a dispute quickly arose over exactly how they had died.
The Israelis said they shot a missile from the air that hit two armed men who were carrying heavy explosives, which blew apart the family’s house behind them. Palestinian witnesses said they believed an Israeli tank shell or a missile from an unmanned drone flew into the small house, killing the four as they were eating breakfast. Two other children from the same family were badly wounded and hospitalized.
The killings prompted vows of revenge and seemed likely to complicate Egyptian efforts to mediate a cease-fire between Hamas, the militant Islamist group that rules Gaza, and Israel.
Shortly afterward, seven rockets and nine mortars were fired at southern Israel from Gaza. No one there was wounded, although a building was damaged.
Dr. Muawiya Hassanein, director of emergency medical services in Gaza, said at least 10 were wounded in Gaza from the fighting.
Outside the destroyed Gazan house, where the Abu Maatak family lived, in the town of Beit Hanoun, pots, children’s clothes and shoes lay scattered on the ground, a scene shown repeatedly on Palestinian and other Arab television channels, along with photographs of the swathed dead bodies, including that of a baby, lying on metal trays in a Gaza morgue.
The dead were named by relatives as Rudayna and Hana Abu Maatak, aged 6 and 3, sisters; their brothers Saleh, 4, and Mousad, 15 months; and their mother, Miyasar, the youngest of three wives of Ahmed Abu Maatak, 70, who said he had gone to the market when the missile hit.
Palestinian security officials said that several Israeli tanks, armored vehicles and bulldozers backed by helicopters stormed Beit Hanoun early on Monday. Militant groups said in separate leaflets sent to reporters that they confronted the Israeli forces with bombs and grenades, adding that Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants exchanged fire.
Maj. Avital Leibovich, the Israeli military’s chief spokeswoman for the foreign press, said that while the army was still investigating, an initial inquiry into the events showed that several Israeli armored personnel carriers had entered the area of Beit Hanoun in what she described as a routine search for rocket launchers, snipers and terrorists.
Two heavily armed men approached the Israelis, she said, leading an Israeli aircraft to fire a missile at them, killing them. On their backs, she said, were rucksacks apparently holding large amounts of explosives, which caused the nearby house to tumble and kill those inside. She said the analysis was based partly on images taken from the air.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak placed the blame squarely on Hamas.
“We see Hamas as responsible for everything that happens there, for all injuries,” he said while on a tour of an Israeli weapons factory, Israeli radio reported. “The army is acting and will continue to act against Hamas, including inside the Gaza Strip.”
The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, a bitter rival of Hamas, condemned the killing of the mother and her four children. It said in a statement that the Israeli army escalation in Gaza "would harm the efforts to agree on a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians."
After Hamas took over Gaza last June in a battle with Fatah forces, Israel imposed a blockade on the area, severely limiting supplies into it. Thousands of crude rockets have been launched against southern Israeli towns and communities in recent years by Hamas and smaller factions, which oppose Israel’s existence.
Militants have tried to infiltrate the border crossing into Israel five times in recent weeks. That has led Israel to keep the border closed more often, further reducing supplies and worsening the already severe humanitarian crisis there. Cooking gas has essentially run out since the supplier became too afraid to deliver, Israeli security officials and Gazans say, closing most bakeries.
The United Nations agency that provides the most aid in Gaza suspended its work for four days because of fuel shortages. And while United Nations and other international officials complain angrily about Israel’s policies, the attempted infiltrations have recently prompted criticism of Hamas by the European Union, which accused it of actions that “lead to further suffering of the population.”
The aid agency, United Nations Relief and Works Agency, announced on Monday that it had just obtained enough fuel to resume its work in Gaza for five more days.
Egypt has been negotiating with Hamas officials on establishing a six-month cease-fire with Israel. On Monday, representatives of smaller factions associated with Hamas, including Islamic Jihad, left for Egypt to discuss their participation in such a cease-fire. If that effort succeeds, Egypt’s intelligence minister, Omar Suleiman, is expected to come to Jerusalem next week to get Israel’s response.
Israeli officials have been exceedingly cautious in their public statements about such a truce offer because they do not trust Hamas and fear that it seeks a truce simply to give itself the time and breathing room to arm more heavily. They have added that if Hamas wants a cease-fire, it must first stop all rocket fire, attacks on Israel from Gaza and the West Bank, and arms smuggling into Gaza from Egypt.
Nonetheless, with President Bush due here in two weeks for Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations and efforts to reach a real agreement with the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank, there is a strong incentive to obtain a period of calm.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due back in Jerusalem this weekend to push the Israelis and West Bank Palestinians closer together in the hope that by the time Mr. Bush arrives there will be some peace framework document.
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