Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Wednesday ordered the army to cease artillery fire in the Gaza Strip and urged a speedy probe into a shelling that killed 19 Palestinians, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported.

Early Wednesday morning, Israeli tank shells struck houses in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, killing at least 19 Palestinians and wounding dozens of others. Eight children and four women were among the dead.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni later deplored the incident, saying in a statement that the army did not intend to harm civilians, but mistakes occurred.

It was unclear whether the incident was caused by a technical or human error. The army assumed that there were errors on a coordination level, the Ha'aretz daily said.

Former army Chief Artillery Commander Brig. Gen. Danny Kasif said that "if the shell deviated 500 meters from its target, then it could very well be a mistake. The coordinates of the target must be examined, to see if they were accurate until the deviation. "

"There is a possibility that an artillery shell would cause many casualties, but the incident this morning must be investigated thoroughly before conclusions are reached," said Kasif.

An army spokeswoman confirmed to Xinhua that the army was conducting an immediate and thorough investigation of the matter to determine what had brought about civilian deaths.

According to witnesses, most of the victims were sleeping when the 15-minute barrage of shells first hit.

The spokeswoman said that an artillery battery containing 12 shells that had been aimed at a launch site, from where Qassam rockets were fired at the southern city of Ashkelon on Tuesday.

The artillery fire was directed at a site about one kilometer from Beit Hanoun houses that were hit.

The incident came one day after the army ended a six-day military operation dubbed Autumn Clouds in which more than 50 Palestinian militants and civilians were killed.

Source: Xinhua