NUSSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip -- The flag-wrapped bodies of seven Palestinian civilians whose deaths were blamed on an Israeli missile strike were carried through this shantytown Tuesday, with tens of thousands of mourners clamoring for revenge.\nThere were conflicting versions of what happened in the airstrike in the Nusseirat refugee camp on Monday night.\nThe Israeli military said helicopters fired two missiles at a car carrying Hamas militants and that two men inside were killed. It released a video showing two missiles hitting the car a minute apart with no one near the vehicle.\nThe video showed a crowd gathering around the car about two minutes after the second strike, and ended some 40 seconds later. The military said another 10 minutes were on video but refused to release it.\nA statement by Palestinian security said there were three missile hits, and that those killed were struck by shrapnel from a missile fired after they had gathered near the vehicle.\nSeven people were killed in Nusseirat on Monday night, including an 11-year-old boy and a doctor who came to treat the wounded, and some 70 were injured.\nDr. Ibrahim Musader, director of the main hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah, said those killed were hit by shrapnel from the missiles.\nAn AP reporter who reached the scene shortly after the attack saw several people with what appeared to be shrapnel wounds lying on stretchers and receiving emergency treatment from paramedics.\nMore than a dozen ambulances were seen rushing from Gaza City to the area of Nusseirat.\nWithin a half-hour of the missile strike, AP reporters saw dozens of wounded reaching the hospital in Deir al-Balah, some treated in the garden because there were no available beds.\nAmbulances were called in to transfer some of the wounded to larger hospitals in Gaza City.\nThe Nusseirat attack was one of five airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in what was one of the most intense single-day assaults with helicopters and warplanes in three years of fighting.\nThree more Palestinians were killed in the other strikes Monday.\nThe missile hits revived debate in Israel over targeted killings in crowded areas. Israel's vice premier, Ehud Olmert, told Israel Army Radio he considered the large numbers of civilian casualties "distressing," but that military strikes would continue, "especially in light of the murderous acts of terror groups."\nPalestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia called for international intervention, referring to the airstrikes as "ugly crimes." Qureia complained the United States is not intervening, saying he believes that this is a "dangerous indication of the U.S. government's intention to abandon" its role in peace efforts.\nThe Israelis said there would be no letup.\n"The Israeli military will continue to act to foil terror attacks, capture murderers and liquidate terror organizations," Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told parliament Monday.\nThe Israeli military said the Nusseirat incident began when a group of militants tried to sneak across a border fence from Gaza into Israel to carry out an attack. The military said the infiltrators were planning a suicide bombing inside Israel.\nTwo of the militants were killed by Israeli soldiers at the border and the others fled in a car and drove to nearby Nusseirat, Brig. Gen. Ruth Yaron, the Israeli army spokeswoman, told The Associated Press.
The military kept track of the car as it sped away. When the vehicle reached Nusseirat's main street, an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles, Yaron said.\nPalestinian security officials and witnesses said the first missile missed the car, allowing the fugitives to escape, and that a second and third missile were fired at least two minutes later, at a time when hundreds of bystanders were at the scene.\nResident Mahmoud Kassuas said he was sitting on his balcony overlooking the main street when the first missile struck. He said many people rushed to the scene when a second and third missile hit.\n"People were swimming in a pool of blood. Children were screaming, and there was great chaos," said Kassuas, whose white robe was soaked with blood after he helped the wounded.\nPalestinian security officials said all seven killed were civilians, including an 11-year-old boy, a 49-year-old cement factory owner and a doctor who had rushed to the scene.\nRelatives said the seven all lived near the scene of the missile attack and were among the first to arrive. Militants killed in Israeli strikes are usually claimed quickly by their groups, but no armed groups came forward after the Nusseirat attack. Tens of thousands joined Tuesday's funeral procession. "Sharon, wait, wait, you have opened hell's gate," the crowd chanted in a threat of revenge, as the bodies were carried on stretchers through the camp.\nYaron said acknowledged that there were civilian casualties, but added that "there is no doubt that the majority of those killed yesterday were terrorists." She held the militants ultimately responsible, saying they were using bystanders as human shields.\nMonday's airstrikes came in response to the firing of homemade Qassam rockets on Israeli border towns. A Palestinian ambush that killed three soldiers in the West Bank over the weekend may also have played a role in ordering the attacks, Israeli military correspondents wrote.\n"The conflict and violence appear to have become a goal unto itself," wrote Alex Fishman in the Yediot Ahronot daily. "Where are the red lines we impose on ourselves in this war? How long can we hurt innocent civilians?"\nAn Israeli soldier killed in the attack, Roi Yaakov Solomon, 21, was buried Tuesday.\nIn the other airstrikes Monday, Israel demolished two weapons labs and storehouses and targeted a pickup truck that had tried to retrieve vats of chemicals from the scene of one attack.\nDuring three years of violence, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have caused dozens of civilian casualties. In April, an air attack killed Hamas leader Said Arabeed and eight other people. In July 2002, 15 people were killed, including nine children, in an air strike that targeted another Hamas leader, Salah Shehadeh.\nHamas and Islamic Jihad pledged revenge. "The two movements agreed to confront the Zionist aggression on our people in Palestine and to urge all (Palestinian) factions and resistance forces to coordinate among each other to confront this aggression," said a joint statement.\nNegotiations over implementing the "road map" peace plan, formally presented in June, have sputtered amid violence and political turmoil. The plan calls for an end to the three-year conflict and leads to a Palestinian state in 2005.\nExcept for a six-week Palestinian stand-down in the summer, clashes and bombings have continued unabated.\nThe Palestinians have been unable to field a stable government, and with Israel and the United States boycotting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, no recent contacts have been held between Israeli and Palestinian officials.\nIn his speech, Sharon called Arafat "the greatest obstacle to peace."\nTherefore, he added, "Israel is determined to bring about his removal from the political arena," referring to a Cabinet decision last month. Last week, Sharon had indicated that he had no plan to expel Arafat.\nIsraeli opposition leader Shimon Peres delivered a combative response, accusing Sharon of being insincere about making peace.
