Israeli government on Wednesday expressed regret for the deaths of about 19 Palestinians in the Israeli artillery strike in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.

"We don't target civilians," spokeswoman for Israeli government Miri Eisen told CNN.

Early Wednesday morning, Israel Defense Forces'(IDF) tank shells struck houses in the Beit Hanoun, killing at least 19 Palestinians and wounding dozens of others, among the dead eight are children and four women.

The witnesses said that most of the victims were sleeping when the 15-minute barrage of shells first hit.

In the first official responding to the shelling, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that the IDF didn't intend to harm civilians, but mistakes occurred.

Unfortunately, during combat, sometimes sad incidents occur, such as what happed this morning, Livni told reporters at the start of an export conference in Tel Aviv.

She said Israel had left Gaza over one year ago to allow Palestinians to take control of terror groups and develop an independent life for themselves, but to everyone's great misfortune, this did not happen.

Livni emphasized that Israel had been subjected to non-stop terror attacks, including the firing of missiles by the Palestinians at densely populated areas.

Source: Xinhua