Israeli Raid Kills Four Gaza Palestinians
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer expressed regret for the army's killing of ``Palestinian innocents'' in an assault after midnight on the coastal village of Sheikh Ijleen and demanded the army investigate.

But the apologetic tone did not appease Palestinian anger over the attack, which killed a mother, two of her sons and their cousin as they slept in an outdoor courtyard of their home nestled among fig and lemon trees.

The blasts of several rounds which Palestinian doctors said sprayed thousands of small, dart-like flechettes, left their bodies sliced and torn and spattered the area with blood.

The army has fired such rounds in the past at suspected attackers in Gaza, though the targets have at times turned out to be civilians.

``Members of one family were killed in cold blood,'' senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar told Reuters as he stood beside the bodies of the dead in the morgue of Gaza's main hospital.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said in a statement the attack was ``a deliberate crime that aims to sabotage the peace efforts made by our friends, the 'Quartet' (group of international mediators) and...the Arab peace initiative.''

Palestinian witnesses said Israeli tanks entered several hundred meters (yards) into the village south of Gaza City and fired shells toward the al-Hajeen family home, killing the four and wounding at least three other family members.

ARMY VERSION DIFFERENT

An army spokesman said troops guarding the nearby Jewish settlement of Netzarim opened fire when they saw ``several suspicious figures'' crawling in the direction of the community.

``Evidence found on the ground later corroborates the suspicion that the figures were crawling. The soldiers then opened fire at the figures who were moving in an open area near the settlement and not inside a house,'' the army spokesman said.

Netzarim and other Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza have become frequent targets for attack by Palestinian militants waging a 23-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation on those lands which they seek for a state.

The attack raised new questions about the army's tactics just weeks after its probe into the killing of a Hamas leader found an intelligence failure led to the deaths of 13 civilians, including nine children, in an air strike on his Gaza home.

On news of the attack in Sheikh Ijleen, family members and neighbors rushed to Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, some embracing one another and weeping in the corridors. A woman fainted as she entered the reception area where the dead were brought in on stretchers, lying on sheets soaked in blood.

``A whole family has been eliminated,'' whispered one shocked relative.

The Gaza raids coincided with a visit by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield, the first time in weeks a U.S. envoy has met Israeli and Palestinian officials in the region to discuss ways to restore calm.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html