Israeli military: 2006 deaths accidental

No one is to blame for the November 2006 Israeli military shelling of two houses in which 21 sleeping Palestinian civilians were killed, the military said Tuesday.

The shelling in Gaza was "not intentional and was directly due to a rare and severe failure in the artillery fire control system," the military said in releasing the findings of an internal inquiry. There will be no military police inquiry and no one will be held accountable, the statement said.

The shelling, which occurred during a large-scale Israeli ground operation in northern Gaza against Palestinian rocket squads, provoked the wrath of international groups and human rights organizations. Since then, Israel has rarely used artillery against Gaza.

Because daily rocket fire from Gaza at Israeli towns and villages continues, there is growing internal pressure for another large military ground operation. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ruled that out for now, pointing to the likelihood of high casualties on both sides.

The shells crashed into houses in the town of Beit Hanoun, about four miles from the Gaza-Israel border, after midnight on Nov. 8, 2006, killing mostly women and children.

The explosions left holes in the buildings and sent panicked residents scurrying outside. A shell hit the people and stained a dusty alleyway with a pool of blood.

The military said it was aiming at rocket squads firing from northern Gaza. Israel expressed regret for the loss of civilian life.

According to its statement on Tuesday, the military inquiry showed that the shells exploded 450 yards away from their target. The statement did not describe the technical problem in detail, but said it was "an extremely rare malfunction."

Lessons and conclusions have been since implemented in the combat field, the statement said.

Therefore, the inquiry ruled, "it is not possible to point to a legal circumstantial connection, between the behaviors of the people involved in the incident and the result of the incident," and no one would be charged with a crime.