The occupation defense ministry said in a statement that Ben-Eliezer had ordered the army to "present him forthwith with its findings on the incident and conclusions for the future.

"Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer expresses regret at the incident in which Palestinian innocents in the Gaza Strip were murdered as a result of zionazi army tank shell fire," the statement said.

The freedom fighters of Hamas vowed to mount further attacks on zionazi civilians to avenge the killings of a mother, her two sons and a cousin of her family and injuring of 16 children when Israeli tanks shelled their house early on Thursday