Renewed Israeli attacks
July 16, 2014
The four children were on a beach in Gaza on Wednesday when they were killed by what appeared to be a shell fired from an Israeli naval gunboat, according to a Palestinian health official and AFP news agency correspondents who witnessed the shelling.
Ashraf al-Kidra, a spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry, said a fifth child was wounded in the attack and is in critical condition. "This is a cowardly crime," he said.
Kidra said the boys were cousins aged nine to 11. They were playing on the beach when they were killed.
The Gaza beach has been frequently targeted for shelling by Israel's military during its latest offensive, which began July 8.
Israel's military said it had intended to target "Hamas terrorist operatives" in the strike, and that the deaths of the children "are a tragic outcome."
More than a dozen other people were killed in separate attacks in Gaza Wednesday, most of which occurred in the south.
Death toll rises
The latest bloodshed brings the total number killed in Gaza during Israel's nine-day offensive to 220, Kidra said. More than 1,560 people have been wounded. Medics say 48 of those killed have been children.
It is the worst streak of Israeli-Palestinian violence in two-years.
According to the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), more than 80 percent of the victims have been civilians.
One person has so far been killed in Israel. A civilian was killed Tuesday evening in a rocket attack near the Erez crossing, said medics. A further four Israelis have been seriously wounded.
Hamas rejects ceasefire proposal
A spokesman for Hamas, which governs Gaza, said Wednesday the Islamist group officially rejected an Egyptian proposal aimed at ending the conflict with Israel.
"The outcome of the discussions within the internal institutions of the movement was to reject the proposal and therefore, Hamas informed Egypt last night it apologizes for not accepting it," Sami Abu Zuhri said.
Israel had accepted the proposal and briefly halted airstrikes on Tuesday, but resumed them the day after as Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets across the border.
However, officials from the Palestinian Fatah movement, which governs the West Bank, were in Cairo on Wednesday to hold peace talks. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas traveled to the Egyptian capital himself for the negotiations.
Senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said he hoped the talks would "crystallize a definite formula for an Egyptian initiative" or clarify its peace plan.
dr/ipj (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)