Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli air strikes

Three Palestinian children were killed on June 20 after Israel launched an air strike on militants in northern Gaza. Witnesses said the targets of the attack jumped out of a car before it was hit. Nine people, including children, were hurt in the attack, which occurred in the Jebaliya refugee camp. Israeli military officials said no civilians were visible when the missiles were fired. Hundreds of mourners shouted for revenge at the funeral for the children the following day. Gunmen fired in the air as the three bodies, draped in Palestinian flags, were carried from the hospital morgue to their families' homes, and from there, to burial services. "Do you want a cease-fire?" a man carrying a loudspeaker asked the crowd, referring to an increasingly shaky truce with Israel. "No!" they shouted. "This is a criminal act," the father of one of the slain children said. "What is the fault of my son? Does he carry Qassam rockets? He was playing in front of my house." Only hours after the funeral ended, an Israeli air strike in the central Gaza city of Khan Younis killed a pregnant woman and her brother and wounded at least 15 other civilians, including three children. Israeli military officials said two missiles were fired at a vehicle which they said was carrying members of the Popular Resistance Committees, one of the armed groups mainly responsible for firing Qassam rockets into southern Israel. The officials said one of the missiles struck the road and the second slammed into a house, which Palestinian witnesses said was about 60 feet away. The deaths followed a month of increasing violence in the Gaza Strip that included an Israeli strike that killed eight Palestinians on June 13 and the killing of a family of seven on a Gaza beach on June 9. The attacks prompted Hamas to end its 16-month ceasefire. Recent Israeli military actions have drawn condemnation from human rights activists. Amnesty International has called for a United Nations probe. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released an assessment on June 21 stating that 32 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza since June 9. Ten children were among the dead, the agency reported. At least six of the dead were members of armed Palestinian groups. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on Israel to ensure its responses were "proportionate and do not put civilians at grave risk." Almost three times as many Palestinian civilians have been killed in Gaza in the past few weeks as Israeli civilians in the southern border town of Sderot killed by Palestinian rockets in the past five years. Arab members of the Israeli parliament harshly condemned the air strikes, with one calling for the resignation of Defense Minister Amir Peretz. Other commentators questioned Israel's approach to the Qassam salvos, including the practice of firing missiles into densely populated areas. "The question must be asked if the decision to attack in the heart of the Jebaliya refugee camp, the most crowded place in the world, was correct from the outset," wrote Amir Rappaport, military affairs correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Maari. Israeli politicians defended the practice of pinpoint killings and faulted Palestinian leaders for not stopping the rocket attacks. At the same time, some questioned the practice's effectiveness in halting the bloodshed unless it is accompanied by diplomacy. "This is not a comprehensive solution, and unfortunately, it won't bring about a dramatic reduction in the level of violence if there won't be a diplomatic message," said Ami Ayalon, a lawmaker with the Labor party who once headed the Shin Bet security service. Defense Minister Peretz "has to continue sending sharp messages, and continue targeted killings... but at the same time, we have to have a [diplomatic] process with [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas," he said. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking in Jerusalem on June 22 about the recent violence, defended the Israeli military's actions: "I am deeply sorry for the residents of Gaza, but the lives, security and well-being of the residents of Sderot [are] even more important."