Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of engaging in "state terrorism" after an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip killed 11 people, including two schoolchildren, medics and witnesses said, according to AFP.
Witnesses said an Israeli missile struck a yellow van east of Gaza City, suggesting that shrapnel from the missile hit a nearby house, wounding children inside.
Reports say the first strike was followed by another missile, which hit civilians who had gone to the scene of the first explosion.
The Israeli military admitted responsibility for the attack, claiming that it carried out an aerial strike in Gaza against a “car that was heading to fire rockets at Israel”.
Two of the dead victims in the van were members of the Islamic Jihad resistance movement but the other nine were civilians, including two young brothers, aged four and eight, and their father.
The Israeli attack also wounded more than 42 civilians, included six children, medics said.
Correspondents say there were scenes of pain and anger as bloodied civilians were taken to hospital.
At the morgue, angry women shouted: "Death to Israel, Death to the occupation!"
Another blast was reported in the Beit Lahiya region of northern Gaza.
Palestinian residents said that attack, which injured four, was the result of an Israeli raid. But the Israeli military denied involvement.
Although Israeli strikes on Palestinian cars are common, Tuesday's attack is one of the bloodiest in years, correspondents say.
The strike comes amid armed confrontation between Israel and Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip with more missile and cross-border attacks.
Violence surged in the region after Israel’s deadly air strike on a Gaza beach that killed seven members of a Palestinian family last Friday.
Correspondents say Tuesday’s attack will certainly escalate tensions that have soared since the ruling Hamas party ended a 16-month-old truce with Israel after Friday’s bloody attack.
Israel claims that 100 rockets have been fired across the Gaza border in the past few days.
* "State terrorism"
Abbas strongly condemned the latest civilian deaths. "What Israel is doing is called state terrorism," he told reporters. "This state terrorism will not shake us."
Separately, the Hamas-led government denounced Israel’s “ugly massacres", and the armed wing of the resistance movement threatened to avenge Tuesday's deaths.
The Jordanian government also condemned what it called “the massacre of civilians”.
Government spokesman Jasser Jauda said that Amman “forcefully condemns Israeli military operations against defenceless civilians in the Gaza Strip, and the policy of blind massacres."
He added that the Jordanian government urged Israel to put an end to such crimes, which he said "poison the atmosphere and complicate the resumption of the peace process."
Witnesses said an Israeli missile struck a yellow van east of Gaza City, suggesting that shrapnel from the missile hit a nearby house, wounding children inside.
Reports say the first strike was followed by another missile, which hit civilians who had gone to the scene of the first explosion.
The Israeli military admitted responsibility for the attack, claiming that it carried out an aerial strike in Gaza against a “car that was heading to fire rockets at Israel”.
Two of the dead victims in the van were members of the Islamic Jihad resistance movement but the other nine were civilians, including two young brothers, aged four and eight, and their father.
The Israeli attack also wounded more than 42 civilians, included six children, medics said.
Correspondents say there were scenes of pain and anger as bloodied civilians were taken to hospital.
At the morgue, angry women shouted: "Death to Israel, Death to the occupation!"
Another blast was reported in the Beit Lahiya region of northern Gaza.
Palestinian residents said that attack, which injured four, was the result of an Israeli raid. But the Israeli military denied involvement.
Although Israeli strikes on Palestinian cars are common, Tuesday's attack is one of the bloodiest in years, correspondents say.
The strike comes amid armed confrontation between Israel and Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip with more missile and cross-border attacks.
Violence surged in the region after Israel’s deadly air strike on a Gaza beach that killed seven members of a Palestinian family last Friday.
Correspondents say Tuesday’s attack will certainly escalate tensions that have soared since the ruling Hamas party ended a 16-month-old truce with Israel after Friday’s bloody attack.
Israel claims that 100 rockets have been fired across the Gaza border in the past few days.
* "State terrorism"
Abbas strongly condemned the latest civilian deaths. "What Israel is doing is called state terrorism," he told reporters. "This state terrorism will not shake us."
Separately, the Hamas-led government denounced Israel’s “ugly massacres", and the armed wing of the resistance movement threatened to avenge Tuesday's deaths.
The Jordanian government also condemned what it called “the massacre of civilians”.
Government spokesman Jasser Jauda said that Amman “forcefully condemns Israeli military operations against defenceless civilians in the Gaza Strip, and the policy of blind massacres."
He added that the Jordanian government urged Israel to put an end to such crimes, which he said "poison the atmosphere and complicate the resumption of the peace process."