CAIRO (Agencies)
Israel expressed regret on Tuesday over the killing of four Palestinian children and their mother during military operations in the Gaza Strip, as Palestinian militant groups were in Cairo for Egyptian-mediated talks on a possible truce with Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his government "deeply" regrets the killing of Meissar Abu Maateq and four of her children, all under the age of six, killed in their house in the village of Beit Hanun on Monday.
"The state of Israel and the government deeply regret that civilians not involved (in the violence) are affected and even more so when it concerns a mother and her four children," Olmert said in a weekly cabinet meeting.
"But we also regret that Israeli citizens have been attacked for years and that Hamas operates in the midst of the civilian population involving them in its war," Olmert said.
Palestinian witnesses blamed it on an Israeli missile, countering the Israeli army's statement that the blast was caused when explosives carried by Palestinian militants detonated during the air strike.
Israel's military said Tuesday it has ordered further investigations into the incident.
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Truce talks Meanwhile, several Palestinian factions traveled from Gaza, Damascus and Amman for two days of talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who is in charge of mediating Palestinian-Israeli contacts.
Egypt has been serving as a go-between in truce negotiations as Israel refuses any direct contacts with organizations it considers terror groups.
Hamas last week told the Egyptians it would be ready to accept a truce first in the Gaza Strip, to be followed six months later in the West Bank.
Israel has expressed doubts about Hamas's intentions but said it would consider a truce if Hamas stopped firing rockets at Israeli territory and attacking border positions.
Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar warned on Tuesday that Palestinian armed groups would use "every means" against Israel if it does not accept the proposed truce.
"They can answer yes or no, but if they answer no, then an isolated, starving people, and the well-known Palestinian factions among them, will have no choice but to use every means against Israel to defend ourselves," he said.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was in Egypt on Sunday and gave his "unconditional" support to Egypt's efforts, asking his ambassador to Cairo, Nabil Amr, to monitor the talks on behalf of his mainstream Fatah movement.
Israel allows only limited basic supplies into the Gaza Strip in an embargo it says aims to force militants to halt their almost daily rocket fire against the Jewish state. |
