The PA declared a day of mourning for five boys who were killed yesterday when an old Israeli tank shell with which they were playing exploded. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer expressed his regret over the \"human tragedy of the loss of innocent lives\" in Khan Yunis. The PLO had originally accused Israel of firing a shell and hitting them, then changed its story. Ben-Eliezer stated that the explosion occurred in an open, uninhabited area from which terrorists had often pummeled Israeli targets with gunfire. The bomb may have been placed there against terrorists. Meretz leader MK Yossi Sarid has called for an investigation into the incident to be concluded no later than Monday. \"Somebody in the top army brass is going to have to pay with his head,\" Sarid said.



MK Tzvi Hendel, a resident of Gush Katif, said that the left\'s criticism of the IDF regarding the fatal shell is out of place. \"Israel has been forced into a war,\" he said, \"in which even innocent people are killed. But in any event there is no comparison between the murderous Palestinian acts and Israel\'s reactions thereof.\"