Israel last night denied responsibility for an explosion on a Gaza beach that killed seven Palestinian civilians last week and led militant group Hamas to call off a 16-month-old truce.
The chief of staff of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), Dan Halutz, said an investigation into the timing of Israeli shelling of Gaza and the shrapnel taken from victims showed his forces were not to blame for Friday's blast.
"We can say, surely, that the IDF is not responsible for the incident," Mr Halutz told a news conference, flanked by Defence Minister Amir Peretz.
"We checked each and every shell that was fired from the sea, the air and from the artillery on the land and we found out that we can track each and every one according to a timetable and according to the accuracy of where they hit the ground.
"We are very sorry for the deaths of the seven Palestinians, but that does not mean that we are responsible," he said. A spokesman for the Hamas-led Palestinian Interior Ministry described Israel's denial of responsibility as a fabrication.
"This is an Israeli lie and an attempt to escape moral responsibility for the massacre of a completely innocent family," Khalid Abu Hilal said.
"The Israeli denial is an additional crime."
No clear explanation was provided for what caused the explosion, which killed several members of the same family, but the head of the investigation, Major-General Meir Califi, suggested Palestinian militants might have been responsible.
Meanwhile, scores of protesters today stormed the Palestinian parliament building, pushing their way into the legislative chamber to demand long overdue wages from the Hamas-led government.
The chaotic scene in Ramallah, and violence in Gaza that killed a Hamas gunman and wounded a security chief loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, were further signs of the growing power struggle between the rival groups.
Interrupting a parliamentary session, protesters climbed on top of lawmakers' desks and threw paper and water bottles. Several Hamas legislators left the chamber as shouting from the crowd turned angrier.
"It is true employees are hungry. They have gone 100 days without salaries. But this is total chaos. We cannot have the storming of the PLC session," Fatah lawmaker Jamal Abul Rub said, referring to the parliament.
A Western aid boycott since Hamas came to power in March has prevented the new government from securing enough funds to pay 165,000 government workers or to provide basic services.