Peretz: Probe civilian deaths in Gaza airstrike

Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered an investigation Sunday morning into the deaths of three Palestinian civilians who were killed Saturday during IDF activities in the Gaza Strip.

On Saturday the IAF carried out the targeted assassination of Muhammad Dahdouh, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad’s armed wing who is considered one of the experts in manufacturing al-Quds rockets. In the explosion, three other civilians were killed: a four-year old boy, his mother Hanan Aman and grandmother Naima Aman. A number of other civilians were also wounded, including the boy’s sister.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Palestinian witnesses reported Sunday morning that a 48-year-old Palestinian woman was killed overnight in gunbattles between IDF forces and Palestianian gunmen in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus. The IDF did not confirm the report.

The IDF said it was continuing to investigate the unintended killing of three Palestinian civilians last night. “The IDF is distressed by any harming of citizens uninvolved in fighting, and if Palestinian civilians were killed by IDF gunfire, the operational lessons will be learned with the aim of continuing to decrease the risk of harming innocent civilians in the futures,” an army-issued statement read.

A spokesman for the al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad's military wing, declared that "the revenge for the killing of Muhammad Dahdouh will come soon and will be painful."

A spokesperson for the Palestinian administration Razi Hamad said that “the Israeli government is lying when it says it is a peaceful regime. This assassination and the operations on the ground prove that it is a criminal government, a government of terrorism, assassinations and killing. The Palestinians must unite efforts to deal with the occupation.”