4 Siblings Dead in Israeli Raids

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip yesterday killed at least six Palestinian Arabs, including four young siblings and their mother, according to Palestinian officials and witnesses.

The deaths threatened to derail Egyptian-mediated talks this week aimed to gain support for a cease-fire between Gazan militant groups and Israel proposed by the radical movement Hamas.

The witnesses said an Israeli tank shell struck a one-story home in the northern Gaza village of Beit Hanoun, killing five members of the Abu Mutiq family.

"I was sitting in my room, while the rest of the family were having their breakfast," said Ibrahim abu Mutiq, 21, as he waited outside the emergency room of Kamal Adwan Hospital. "I heard a big explosion in our house. The bodies of my mom, brothers, and sisters were lying down on the ground, their blood mixed with the food."

The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry official, Dr. Muawiyah Hassanein, said the blast killed sisters Rudayna, 6, and Hanaa, 3; brothers Salih, 4, and Musab, 1. Their mother Miyasar, 42, later died of her injuries. A passer-by also was killed.

Images broadcast on Arab satellite channels showed four tiny corpses, swathed in white cloth, lined up in the hospital.

Israeli officials quickly expressed remorse for the blast but placed blame on the Gazan militants, who they said fire rockets and attack Israeli soldiers from areas crowded with civilians.