Unidentified gunmen killed three sons of a Palestinian intelligence official loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza today, firing at the car as it dropped the boys at school, police and hospital officials said.
Palestinians carry the bodies of Ossama, 8, Ahmed, 7, and, Salama, 6, during their funeral at Al-shifa hospital today. Gunmen killed the three boys as they travelled to school.
An adult bystander was also killed in the attack in Gaza City, amid growing tension between Hamas, the governing militant movement, and Abbas's more moderate Fatah faction.
Angry mourners firing automatic weapons later stormed into the parliament compound during a funeral for the boys, who were aged between 6 and 9. There were no reports of injuries.
Some 2,000 people took part in the funeral, including the boys' father, Colonel Baha Balousha, who was heavily guarded. Relatives carried his three sons in their arms. The bodies were wrapped in white sheets.
Balousha, who was not in the car when it was attacked, is a senior intelligence official who is close to Abbas. Gunmen tried to kill Balousha in Gaza in September, one of several attacks on intelligence officials loyal to Abbas in the strip this year.
Palestinian Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who arrived in Sudan for a visit on Monday, condemned the attack, saying: "We cannot be silent in the face of this heinous crime. I have asked the interior minister to take all measures to chase the killers ... and bring them to justice."
The car taking the children to school was peppered with bullet holes, and blood stains covered the seats. Two school bags, one green and the other blue, still lay inside.
Several other schools line the street, which was crowded with children at the time of the shooting.
Residents said the gunmen fled with Hamas policemen in pursuit. Hospital officials said the dead bystander was a 25-year-old man. Police said two other children were wounded.
A senior Palestinian intelligence official in the occupied West Bank said it was unclear who was behind the attack.