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10 Palestinian children die in missile fire

RAFAH (GAZA STRIP), MAY 19. Israeli forces fired a missile and four tank shells to hold back a large crowd of Palestinian demonstrators on Wednesday, killing at least 10 Palestinian children and teens and wounding 50 people, hospital officials said.

The Israeli military said it fired toward an abandoned structure, not at the crowd, but witnesses saw at least one large explosion go off within the crowd of protesters. White smoke rose into the air, as Palestinians carried the wounded — including children with bloodied faces — from the scene.

The toll was expected to rise.

Dr. Moawiya Hassanain, a senior Palestinian Health Ministry official, said that of the wounded, 23 were in critical and 13 in `hopeless' condition. He said all of dead and most of the wounded were under 18.

It appeared likely that Israel would break off a large military offensive in the Rafah refugee camp as a result of Wednesday's strike. One official said the idea was being considered. The offensive, in search of gunmen and weapons-smuggling tunnels, was to have lasted for more than a week.

Even before Wednesday's strike, the offensive had drawn widespread international condemnation. The Bush administration said it was very concerned about Wednesday's incident and called for ``maximum restraint."

``We regret any loss of human life ... in the course of our efforts to defend ourselves,'' said the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon's adviser, Raanan Gissin. ``There is no doubt that this requires a thorough investigation.''

Palestinian officials accused Israel of having committed a war crime. The incident began on Wednesday afternoon when several thousand Palestinians marched from the town of Rafah to the nearby camp of the same name, target of the Israeli offensive.

Brig. Gen. Ruth Yaron, the Israeli army spokeswoman, said that Israeli forces fired warning shots — first a missile from a helicopter that hit an empty area, followed by machine gun fire and four tank shells toward an abandoned structure.

Brig. Gen. Yaron did not say where the structure was in relation to the crowd.

``There was (Israeli) machine gun fire into the direction of a wall in an abandoned structure, and also four tank shells were fired at this structure, at no point in the direction of the demonstrators,'' she said.

AP

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