GAZA CITY, June 9: Seven Palestinians, including three young children, were killed on Friday while on a day out at the seaside in the Gaza Strip when they came under fire from Israeli artillery.

The deaths on the beachfront in the Sudania area of the narrow coastal territory raised the toll from Israeli strikes to 14 in less than 24 hours. The other seven were killed in air raids.

The surge began with an air strike on Thursday night that killed a militant leader and three other Palestinian fighters.

A further three suspected militants were killed in a fresh round of air strikes on Friday that targeted a group behind a new series of rocket attacks.

In the seaside incident, around 35 other people were wounded in the firing off the coast of Gaza, from which all Israeli ground troops were withdrawn last September.

Medical sources said five of those killed at the beach were members of the Ghali family from Gaza. Children aged one, three and 10 died alongside their parents, Ali and Raisa.

Terrified, crying children who were injured in the attack were rushed to nearby hospitals in Jabaliya and Gaza City, where they were visited by Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, who described the attack as a war crime ‘in every sense of the word’.

The victims had been bathing on the coast on one of the hottest days of the year in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military confirmed that the navy had fired onto the beach, but said it was believed the deaths were caused by shelling, not by firing from the gunboats.

“As of now it is clear that Israeli naval fire did not cause this incident. The possibility of land-based artillery fire is being examined. The IDF deeply regrets any harm caused to innocent civilians,” said a spokesman

The army later announced that chief of staff Dan Halutz had ordered a suspension to the bombardments as an inquiry was launched.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned what the ‘bloody massacres’ in the Gaza Strip, and one of his top officials contacted western governments to persuade them to help rein in the Israeli military.

“I don’t know the reasons that cause the Israeli government to commit such atrocious crimes against the Palestinian people,” he said.

The strikes came at a sensitive time for Mr Abbas as the moderate president prepared to announce a controversial referendum that calls for an end to attacks on Israel.

He is well aware that the deadly operations by the Israeli military inside Gaza will make it that much harder to secure backing for such a measure.

Israeli army radio quoted Defence Minister Amir Peretz as saying the military activity was in response to increased attacks from militants.

FUNERAL: Tens of thousands of Palestinians had earlier attended the funeral in southern Gaza for the victims of the overnight air strike in which Jamal Abu Samhadana, head of the Popular Resistance Committees, was killed.