http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1701000/1701343.stm

Monday, 10 December, 2001, 17:44 GMT

Israeli missiles kill two children

The intended target was an Islamic Jihad member
Israeli helicopters have fired missiles at a car in the
West Bank town of Hebron, hours after the government
rejected a truce offer by Palestinian militant groups.

Palestinian hospital officials said two boys - one aged
13, the other a child of three - were killed in the attack,
which left seven others injured and destroyed the car.

Israeli military sources told the BBC the intended target
was a prominent member of the militant group Islamic
Jihad, which, along with Hamas, has carried out a wave
of suicide attacks.

Earlier reports said the
Israeli security cabinet had
decided to step up
operations against
Palestinian militants, after
the latest suicide bombing
on Sunday.

That attack, the fifth suicide
bombing in 10 days, injured
10 Israelis in the port city of
Haifa.

A total of 29 Israelis have
died in the attacks.

Cars hit

Two Israeli helicopters fired several missiles, damaging
at least two cars in the centre of Hebron.

The father of the older boy
who died, Ahmed Arafi, said
he and his son were riding
in a taxi behind the car that
was hit by Israeli missiles.

"My son was next to me. I
don't know what happened.
All I know is that I carried
my son into the hospital,"
Associated Press quoted Mr
Arafi as saying.

The Israelis' planned
target, a leading activist in
Islamic Jihad, Mohammed
Sidr, is thought to have
been seriously injured.

Such attacks, which the Israelis call targeted killings and
the Palestinians describe as assassinations, are highly
controversial.

Senior Palestinian security officials say they received an
assurance less than 24 hours earlier from their Israeli
counterparts that such attacks would stop.

Truce rejected

A senior Israeli defence official described the ceasefire
offer by the militants - amongst them Hamas and
Islamic Jihad - as "not serious".

He ruled out any halt to
Israeli operations against
Palestinian targets, saying
they were "purely
self-defence".

The militant groups had
offered to stop attacks
within Israel for six days if
the Israeli army ends its
strikes on the West Bank
and Gaza.

"We have not finished our
action," Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon said
as he and his ministers
held talks late into Sunday
night.

He made it clear Israel would continue to act against
Palestinian militants.

"Our operations are yielding impressive results," Mr
Sharon told Israeli radio. "In the light of what is
happening, we might have to step up our activities."

The Israeli attack comes as the US special envoy to the
Middle East, Anthony Zinni, is reported to have warned
that he would end his peace mission in 48 hours unless
there was real progress towards ending the violence.

Israeli and Palestinian officials differ on what exactly Mr
Zinni said, and BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy
says the Americans are carefully avoiding the use of the
word ultimatum.

But our analyst says the focus of United States pressure
is on what it sees as the inadequate actions of the
Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, against militant
Islamist groups.