An Israeli missile strike on a van carrying militants and rockets killed 11 Palestinians, nine of them civilians, in Gaza today in the deadliest such attack in nearly four years.
The air strike signalled that Israel would not flinch from targeting rocket squads in densely populated areas in spite of an outcry over the deaths of seven Palestinians on a Gaza beach on Friday in a blast militants blamed on Israeli shellfire.
Mourners next to the bodies of two Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza city today.
"We have been showing restraint due to the international storm caused by the incident on the Gaza beach - but no longer," Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz was quoted as telling reporters in northern Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called today's
missile attack "state terrorism".
The high civilian toll was certain to set militant groups, already skirmishing between themselves, on a course of even fiercer confrontation with Israel. At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has approved a shipment of weapons to forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, an Olmert aide said today, in a move that bolsters Mr Abbas against the rival Hamas group.
Israel said it targeted the Gaza van because it was carrying powerful armaments that could have been used against it.
"The car that we hit was loaded with Katyusha rockets and launchers and they were on their way to launch those Katyusha rockets at Israel," an army spokeswoman said in Tel Aviv after the attack in the eastern outskirts of Gaza City. Witnesses said an Israeli aircraft fired two missiles.
The first hit the vehicle, causing it to crash into the pavement. A second missile hit as a crowd gathered and rescuers arrived.
Hospital officials said nine civilians, including two children and two medics, were killed as well as two Islamic Jihad militants.
About 30 people were wounded. "Today we have said farewell to our martyrs and tomorrow Israel will say farewell to their dead," Islamic Jihad said.
Rockets could be clearly seen in the wreckage of a yellow van. The Israeli army said the projectiles could hit targets up to 20 kilometres away, a range far greater than that of the crude Qassam rockets usually fired by militants from Gaza.
Chief of staff of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), Dan Halutz, said an investigation of the timing of Israeli shelling of Gaza beach and the shrapnel taken from victims showed that his forces were not to blame for Friday's blast. "We can say, surely, that the IDF is not responsible for the incident," Halutz told a news conference, flanked by Mr Peretz.
No clear explanation was provided for what did cause the explosion, but the head of the investigation, Major General Meir Califi, suggested Palestinian militants might have been responsible.
A spokesman for the Hamas-led Interior Ministry described Israel's denial of responsibility as a fabrication. "The Israeli denial is an additional crime," Khalid Abu Hilal said. Blaming Israel for Friday's explosion, Hamas declared an end to a 16-month truce. The group, dedicated to Israel's destruction, was responsible for nearly 60 suicide bombings in Israel since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000. It last carried out a suicide bombing in 2004 and largely abided by the truce reached in early 2005.
Militants have fired more than 100 rockets into Israel since the Gaza beach explosion, the army said.
Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of Gaza last year and has said it will not tolerate cross-border rocket attacks.