Israel apologises for killing Bedouin family

Israeli tank shells slammed into a Bedouin encampment in Gaza today, killing four members of a family and wounding four others.

The killing of the four - a 50-year-old woman, two of her sons and another relative - signalled that a plan for gradually restoring calm in the Gaza Strip, as a precursor to a broader ceasefire, was unravelling.

Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer ordered an investigation and expressed “sorrow over the event in which innocent Palestinians were killed by fire from the Israeli Defence Forces.”

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat accused Israel of trying to sabotage ceasefire efforts. “This is an unforgivable crime that is aimed at delaying peace efforts,” he said.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz today reported that the military has prepared a contingency plan for dismantling virtually all Jewish settlements in Gaza and several in the West Bank.

The plan was prepared several months ago as part of a proposal that would have Israel agreeing to provisional Palestinian statehood in exchange for a delay in talks on a final peace deal.