Israelis Slaughter 25 Palestinians - Incl 7 Children

Four boys playing football have been killed in Gaza by Israeli air strikes, according to Palestinian officials, as Israel responded to the death of a man from a barrage of rocket attacks with a bloody escalation of violence.

At least 16 Palestinians – including the four children – were killed yesterday as Israel responded to the deadly attacks the previous day.

While the Israeli military said it had been targeting militants and rocket-launching squads, the officials said the boys were playing football close to their homes in Jabalya, northern Gaza.

A relative, Ahmed Dardouna, 42, said the family had located the bodies of the boys – reportedly two brothers and their cousins – at a local hospital after they failed to return home. Rocket fire from militants into Israel continued during the day lightly injuring two Israelis and forcing the Israeli Interior Minister, Avi Dichter, to take cover during a visit to the border town of Sderot. His bodyguard was one of those injured, in a rocket attack launched before the minister arrived. Four rockets reached Ashkelon, 12 miles north of Gaza.

Palestinian officials said that while the majority killed were militants, 10 civilians were among the total of at least 27 killed over the past two days – seven of which were children.

They said that one Palestinian was killed and four wounded in a helicopter attack on a police roadblock 150 yards from the home of the de facto Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Although Mr Haniyeh is said to have gone into hiding and was not at home at the time, the attacks were locally interpreted as a warning to Hamas's political leadership because the coastal area of the Beach refugee camp where he lives is not used for launching rockets.

The latest outbreak of violence began on Wednesday when an airstrike killed five militants, described by Hamas as "five of our best fighters", as they drove in a van in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis. More