GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — An explosion shattered a tiny Gaza Strip house as Israeli troops battled militants Monday, killing a Palestinian woman and four of her children in new bloodshed that threatened efforts to arrange a truce between the warring sides.
Palestinians said the house was hit by an Israeli tank shell; Israel said explosives being carried by militants blew up and brought down the two-room structure.
Miyasar Abu Meatak was preparing breakfast for her children in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun when an explosion ripped through the home, her stepson Ibrahim said.
Four of her children, ages 15 months to 6 years, were killed instantly, and she died shortly afterward at a hospital, Palestinian officials said. Her two older children were reported critically wounded.
“What a black day. They killed my family,” the grief- stricken father, Ahmad Abu Meatak, wailed outside the hospital.
Abu Meatak said he was on his way to a nearby market when the house blew up.
In a statement, the military said explosives carried by Palestinian militants were detonated by an Israeli airstrike, and the blast from the explosives hit the house, not a tank shell, “and uninvolved civilians were hit.”
Palestinians said the militants were at least 400 yards from the house.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak put the blame on the Islamic militants of Hamas, which has run Gaza since defeating the rival Fatah movement in a five-day battle last June. Barak said Israel would continue to operate in the volatile coastal territory.
