Prior to the weekly Cabinet meeting, in which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized for the death of a mother and four children in Gaza, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Kadima ministers that an apology is not necessary.

"As long as there are claims that the residents were not struck by IDF weaponry, but by the terrorists' own explosives there is no need to apologize or take responsibility," she said.

Livni's comments were apparantly leaked by her staff in response to the prime minister's expression of regret at the Cabinet meeting.