In response to a call by the UN, the military said in a statement yesterday that it would hold its fire for five hours starting at 0230 IST but warned it will retaliate "firmly and decisively" if Hamas or other militant groups launch attacks on Israel during that time. It also said residents of three Gaza neighborhoods asked yesterday to evacuate their homes should be out by the time the pause expires.
The announcement came after a day of Israeli airstrikes and Palestinian militant rocket attacks as Hamas formally rejected a cease-fire proposal that had been accepted by Israel to end the 9-day-old conflict that officials say has left at least 213 Palestinians and one Israeli dead.
The four boys, who were cousins and ages 9 to 11, were killed yesterday while playing on a beach off a coastal road west of Gaza City, said Ashraf al-Kidra, a Palestinian health official. Seven others adults and children were wounded in the strike, which Palestinian human rights activist Khalil Abu Shamala said came from an Israeli naval vessel operating offshore.
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He said the boys fled. The second rocket "hit all of them," he said.
Mobile phone video circulated on Facebook showed the small bloodied bodies lying in the sand. One tiny corpse, lying face down, was twisted, with the legs at sharp angle to the torso. The boys' uncle, Abdel Kareem Baker, 41, raged at Israel after the attack.
"It's a cold-blooded massacre," he said. "It's a shame who come they didn't identify them as kids with all of the advanced technology they claim they're using."