Israel vows to continue Gaza attacks despite civilian deaths

Published on Friday 10 November 2006 11:32

ISRAEL will keep targeting Palestinian rocket squads in Gaza despite the risk of inadvertently hitting civilians, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said.

He spoke out as tens of thousands of Palestinians buried 18 victims of an errant Israeli artillery strike.

Mr Olmert said the artillery was meant to hit an orange grove from which troops saw rockets fired seconds earlier, but instead hit homes in Beit Hanoun, some 500 metres away.

The military said the results of its inquiry concluded that the casualties were caused by Israeli army artillery.

The military statement said the inquiry determined the problem was a "technical failure" in the system that directs the fire.

Defence Minister Amir Peretz ordered the military to "re-evaluate its policy of artillery fire in Gaza, including the safety range," his ministry said in a statement.

Women collapsed in grief, gunmen fired in the air and a man hoisted his dead baby aloft during the funeral procession in Beit Hanoun

.