Israel air strike condemned as Hamas vow to wreak revenge
The raid appeared likely to derail those efforts as Hamas said it would take revenge.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel had "no interest in harming civilians" in the attack. Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer issued a statement saying that "the information which we had was that there were no civilians near him".
However, by firing a powerful missile into a densely packed neighbourhood in the middle of the night, civilian casualties were a certainty, Palestinians said.
"This is a war crime that is aimed at destroying all efforts to return stability to the region," Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said. "We warned the Israeli government against attacking civilians. The Israeli government is playing with fire."
Arab and European nations condemned the missile strike as disproportionate and said it would fuel more violence. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Israel clearly failed in its "legal and moral responsibility" to avoid hurting civilians.
Former Irish President and UN human rights chief Mary Robinson also raised questions about the legality of the Israeli attack.
"Under international human rights and humanitarian law the reckless killing of civilians is absolutely prohibited, regardless of the military significance of the target being attacked," she said in Geneva.
In a statement on behalf of all 15 EU governments, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller noted the EU and the international community at large have consistently rejected the Israeli method of extra-judicial killings.
"Neither this nor any other actions causing indiscriminate civilian casualties will bring security to the Israeli public."
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, in Cairo for talks with the Egyptian president, demanded "severe punishment" for what he called "a horrible act which will be recorded in history against Sharon."
Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilians and inflaming tensions and called on the US to "stop such Israeli behaviour".
The attack took place around midnight, leaving the apartment building a pile of smoldering rubble. Bedding, kitchen utensils, clothes and childrens' toys were strewn about in the debris. Hundreds of residents in the area dug through rubble during the night, searching for survivors.
In the ensuing confusion, there were conflicting reports for several hours on whether Shehadeh had been wounded or killed.
Hamas confirmed his death on Tuesday morning, saying Shehadeh's wife Leileh, their 14-year-old daughter Iman and a bodyguard were also killed.
Shifa Hospital in Gaza City released a separate list of the dead, that included eight children, aged 2 months to 11 years. The hospital also said that more than 100 people were wounded.
In other violence, five Palestinian militants were killed in clashes with the Israeli army, bringing the overall Palestinian death toll for the day to 20.
Two Palestinians were killed during an exchange of fire on Tuesday morning on the edge of the Gaza Strip, the army said. The militant group Islamic Jihad said its members carried out the attack.
Near the West Bank city of Nablus, three Palestinian gunmen, disguised in Israeli military uniforms, died in a gun battle, the army added.
In nearly 22 months of Mideast fighting, more than 1,780 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 778 on the Israeli side.
The latest violence comes amid Israeli-Palestinian efforts to ease tensions in the West Bank. Israeli troops have occupied seven Palestinians cities and towns for more than a month, a response to earlier Palestinian attacks.
Hamas hinted on Monday that it would consider halting suicide bombing attacks if Israel pulled out of the Palestinian areas. However, the missile attack ended any such prospect.
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday that the Palestinians had outlined a proposal to resume security cooperation if Israel withdraws troops from the Palestinian areas in the West Bank.
Security cooperation, in which the sides share information and act jointly where possible to prevent attacks, ground to a halt after fighting erupted in September 2000.
Palestinians would undertake to confiscate illegal weapons and arrest militants, Haaretz reported.
In return, the newspaper said, Israel would free prisoners arrested in the fighting, end its strikes on Palestinian targets and halt its targeted killings of militants the type Israel carried out in Gaza City.
The proposal was similar to a deal worked out last summer by CIA director George Tenet that was never implemented as the violence escalated.
Ranaan Gissin, spokesman for Sharon, said Israel wouldn't make any concessions before the Palestinians moved to end attacks.
Palestinian officials have demanded that Israel withdraw from the West Bank towns, saying they can't prevent attacks against Israelis as long as the Israeli army is in place, enforcing curfews and hunting down militants.
