Israeli tanks raided a coastal village in the Gaza Strip overnight killing four members of the same Palestinian family.
The consecutive raids on the Sheikh Ijleen village south of Gaza City and Israel's cancellation of security talks with the Palestinians yesterday strained a fragile Bethlehem/Gaza First truce arrangement.
Hospital officials confirmed four people had been killed from the al-Hajeen family, including Ruwaida, (55) and her two sons, Ashraf (23) and Nihad (17). The fourth person killed was a cousin of the family, Mohammed (20).
An Israeli army spokesman said details of the incident were being checked. The circumstances behind the raid were not clear.
The raid on Sheikh Ijleen was the second consecutive army strike on the area, close to the heavily guarded Jewish settlement of Netzarim. Israeli forces carried out an attack on Tuesday in what security sources said was an attempt to thwart an weapons-smuggling operation.
Israeli Defence Minister Mr Binyamin Ben-Eliezer called off security talks due yesterday with Palestinian Interior Minister Mr Abdel-Razzak al-Yahya, because of a mortar attack on a Jewish settlement in Gaza the previous night.
The two ministers were to discuss bolstering a gradual ceasefire reached over a week ago that has seen a pull-out of Israeli troops from the West Bank city of Bethlehem but has yet to ease the military presence in the Gaza Strip.