18 in 1 Family Killed in Gaza Shelling

A Palestinian boy watches mourners carry the bodies of 5 dead Palestinians during their funeral in the West Bank village of Yamoun near Jenin Wednesday Nov. 8, 2006. Israeli forces ambushed a group of Palestinian militants in Yamoun near the West Bank town of Jenin early Wednesday, killing four, Palestinian security officials said. During the gun battle that ensued a 30-year-old civilian man who went out to a rooftop to see what happened was shot and killed, security and medical officials said. The military said it was checking the report.(AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas) (Mohammed Ballas - AP)

BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip -- Israeli tank shells ripped through a residential neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip early Wednesday, killing at least 18 members of an extended family, including eight children, and wounding dozens of others, health officials said.

Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal said that a truce with Israel was finished and his group's militants could resume fighting. The military wing of the Palestinians' ruling group called on Muslims around the world to attack U.S. targets, a call disavowed by the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed regret over the deaths and, along with Defense Minister Amir Peretz, offered "urgent humanitarian aid" to the Palestinian Authority and immediate medical treatment to the wounded.

Israel halted artillery attacks in Gaza while it investigated the incident, but said it would press forward with operations meant to halt Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli communities.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh suspended talks on forming a more moderate government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and both men declared a three-day mourning period. Abbas said the negotiations must continue.

Russia and the European Union condemned the attack.

The tank shells landed around a compound of four apartment buildings in Beit Hanoun, the northern border town that has been the latest focus of the Israeli offensive. Gaping holes were torn into the structures, owned by four brothers from the al-Athamna family who lived alongside each other. A large pool of blood collected in front of the houses, and stairs in an outside stairway were covered with blood.

Asma al-Athamna, 14, said her family was awakened early Wednesday by the sound of an explosion and her mother quickly ordered everyone out of the house.

"She was saying, 'There is shelling,'" Asma recalled.

As the family exited their home, another shell landed, killing the girl's mother, older sister and brother-in-law.

"They were killed when they came out of our house into the corridor. A tank shell killed them. I was behind them and I was wounded," the weeping girl said from her hospital bed.

A woman's headscarf, children's boots and slippers, and a pair of jeans _ all burnt _ were strewn outside the houses.