Israel's defence minister has ordered an inquiry into several recent killings of Palestinians by the army.
Mr Binyamin Ben-Eliezer gave army chief Lieut Gen Moshe Yaalon until Friday to reveal his findings "to prevent such unfortunate mishaps in the future".
In radio interviews, Mr Ben-Eliezer again apologised for the killings of civilians, among them a six-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy and two teenagers.
The civilian deaths, in two separate incidents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, have outraged Palestinians. Several senior Palestinian officials demanded an end to recent Israeli-Palestinian security talks on a gradual ceasefire.
Israeli officials, including President Mr Moshe Katsav, have called for the army to investigate the deaths.
Early on Thursday, Israeli troops fired a tank shell at a home in the Gaza Strip, killing a mother, her two adult sons and another relative. The army claimed the troops saw suspicious figures crawling in an off-limits area. It apologised for the killings.
The victims' relatives said troops in tanks fired randomly at farmers sitting under a fig tree.
On Saturday, an Israeli helicopter launched missiles at a car in the West Bank town of Tubas, targeting a senior militant. Instead, another militant, two teenagers who were in the car with him and two young children playing nearby were killed. The target of the attack escaped.
Four more Palestinians were killed early yesterday. The army said the four were in a field farmed by Jews, and the soldiers - who were warned four Palestinians would try to carry out an attack in the area - shot them dead. But Palestinians say the four were labourers killed in cold blood.
AP