Israeli army blames militants for deaths of 5 Palestinians

JERUSALEM — The Israeli army blamed militants for the deaths of a Palestinian woman and her four young children, saying Friday that they died in secondary blasts when the Hamas fighters' ammunition detonated in an Israeli airstrike.

An Israeli human-rights group called for a wider, criminal probe into the matter, saying the military appeared to have violated international law by launching an attack close to the family's home.

Miyasar Abu Meatak and her children, ages 15 months to 6 years, were killed Monday morning as they were preparing to sit down for breakfast in a walled courtyard outside their home in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.

The Israeli army has said it targeted armed militants with small explosives as they walked just outside the walled compound where the family lived.

"There was no reason that the explosion should come from us. We know that it was materiel they carried," army spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovitz said of the militants. "They were going out to battle in the middle of a residential neighborhood."

The Israeli army did not say how it concluded that the mother and children were killed by the secondary explosion.

It released video of the strike in which four militants carrying weapons are seen walking near the home when a two-stage explosion occurs.

The grainy video did not clearly show whether it was the missile or the later explosion that killed the family.

Sarit Michaeli, a spokeswoman for the rights group B'tselem, said which weapons actually killed the family mattered less than that the attack took place in a populated area.

"They need to investigate the decision to fire a missile right next to the home," she said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have blamed Hamas for the deaths, accusing the extremist group of allowing its fighters to operate within residential areas.

The army said militants operating among civilians would not be granted immunity.

"It should be emphasized that the armed gunmen were operating near the family's house, therefore endangering their lives," it said.