Olmert regrets killing of 14 civilians in Gaza

A relative of Zakaria Ahmed after he was killed by a missile attack. Picture / Reuters.

KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has expressed "deep regret" for army operations that have killed 14 Palestinian civilians in just nine days but insists there is no "moral equivalence" between them and Palestinian attacks on Israel.

The deaths in three separate missile attacks overshadowed Mr Olmert's first meeting with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas since taking office as grieving relatives gathered here to mourn the two latest civilian victims, Fatima Ahmed, a 37-year-old pregnant mother of two small children, and her brother Zakaria, 45.

The siblings were killed by an Israeli missile which had been launched in the second bungled attempt to assassinate militants in less than 24 hours.

The attack wounded 13 other members of the family including six children, and partially wrecked the house in which they had all been concluding a celebratory meal in honour of Mr Ahmed, who had been on a week-long visit from Saudi Arabia to see his 83-year-old mother.

The Israeli Defence Forces say the attack early on Wednesday evening local time was aimed at a pick-up truck carrying members of militant Palestinian Resistance Committees.

Witnesses said a six-inch crater on the other side of the road from the house was from a second missile.

Three children were killed in an assassination attempt designed to curb Qassam rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel on Tuesday.

Expressing "deep regret for the death of innocent Palestinians," Mr Olmert was said to have told Mr Abbas in Petra, Jordan: "There is no moral equivalence between Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israel and Israeli army operations, because the army does not intend to hurt innocents."

Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, this week 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 nine days as Israeli civilians killed by Qassam rockets in the past five years.

Major-General Eliezer Shakedi, the Israeli air force commander entrusted with investigating how the civilian deaths occurred, told Army Radio: "We have to make a great effort to try everything possible to avoid hitting civilians."

But he added: "We have to fight terrorism and we are doing it ... This is the most accurate and the best possible option without launching a broad and very significant [ground] operation."

The dead woman's husband, Nidal Wahba, 39, said he wanted to see an end to violence on both sides.

"We are against all this. We don't want to teach our children violence. I wouldn't like to see this happen to Israeli people."

The attack came amid signs of progress in talks between Fatah and Hamas designed to reach an agreement on a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel.

Mr Wahba said: "There are people in Gaza who want to make war against Israel and people who want to make peace.I want the Palestinians to have one goal and that should be peace."

Of the missile strike which killed his wife and brother-in-law, he added: "I hope it will be the last one."

- INDEPENDENT