Israel launches investigation into civilian deaths

Israel’s defence minister has ordered a rapid investigation into several recent killings of Palestinians by the army which have included at least eight civilians.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer gave army chief Lieutenant General Moshe Yaalon until Friday to reveal his findings in order “to prevent such unfortunate mishaps in the future”.

And in radio interviews, Ben-Eliezer again apologised for the killings of civilians, among them a six-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy and two teenagers.

The civilian deaths, in two separate incidents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, outraged Palestinians.

Several senior Palestinian officials demanded an end to recent Israeli-Palestinian security talks on a gradual ceasefire.

“After each meeting with the Israelis, a new massacre happens somewhere in the Palestinian territories,” Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said.

Early on Thursday, Israeli troops fired a tank shell at a home in the Gaza Strip, killing a mother, her two adult sons and another relative.

The army said at the time that the troops saw suspicious figures crawling in an off-limits area. It apologised for the killings.

The victims’ relatives said troops in tanks fired randomly at farmers sitting under a fig tree.

On Saturday, an Israeli helicopter launched missiles at a car in the West Bank town of Tubas, targeting a senior militant.

Instead, a lower level militant, two teenagers who were in the car with him and two young children playing nearby were killed. The target of the attack escaped.

Four more Palestinians were killed early yesterday. The army said the four were in a field farmed by Jews, and the soldiers - who were warned that four Palestinians would try to carry out an attack in the area - shot them dead.

Palestinians say the four were labourers killed in cold blood.

Israeli officials, including President Moshe Katsav, have called for the army to investigate the deaths. Others questioned whether soldiers were too ready to shoot first and ask questions later.

The deaths follow the killing in July of 14 civilians, among them nine children, in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip.

In that incident, the air force targeted senior Hamas militant, Salah Shehadeh, and dropped a one-ton bomb on his home. He was also killed in the attack.

Also today, Palestinians fired a mortar shell at a Jewish settlement in the southern Gaza Strip. No injuries or damage were reported.