BEIT HANOUN, Gaza - Israeli artillery shells
killed 18 civilians in a town in northern Gaza on Wednesday, the
deadliest strike in the territory in four years. "We saw legs, we saw
heads, we saw hands scattered in the street," said Attaf Hamad, 22, in
Beit Hanoun, a town in the northern Gaza Strip that has been a launching
ground for Palestinian militants' rocket attacks on Israel.
Some of the dead were killed in bed as shells struck
seven houses, and others rushed outside, finding no safety. Thirteen
members of one extended family were killed and the dead included seven
children and four women. Doctors said, adding some 40 people were
wounded, nine of whom were in critical or serious condition in the
intensive care.
Israel said 'We are sorry', but there are Qassam rockets being
launched nearby.
"The killing this morning of so many civilians in Gaza,
including many children, is a profoundly shocking event. Israel has a
right to defend itself, but not at the price of the lives of the
innocent," Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Union's external
relations chief, said in a statement.
Israel also killed five others in the West Bank town of Jenin.
