( AP ) - Three young Palestinian cousins were killed Wednesday in Gaza in what the Israeli army said was an attack on rocket launchers aiming at southern Israel.
The incident could complicate peace efforts, just a day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met in Jerusalem to try to move the process ahead.
The Israeli army said it spotted figures handling rocket launchers in northern Gaza, and attacked them from the ground. Witnesses confirmed there were rocket launchers in the area.
The Israeli military said it "wishes to express sorrow" for the "use of teenagers in terror attacks." The army in the past has accused militants of using children to collect rocket launchers after they are fired, but it did not say the children killed Wednesday were directly involved.
The area that was hit in Gaza is populated by civilians and is frequently used by Palestinian militants to launch rocket attacks against southern Israel. The army said 92 rockets and 118 mortars fell in Israel in the past month.
The three dead were identified as 10-year-old Mahmoud Ghazal, 10-year-old Sara Ghazal and 12-year-old Yehiya Ghazal, Palestinian officials said. They were all cousins, officials said.
"We heard a blast, followed by children screaming," said another relative, Wasfi Ghazal. "We rushed over and found the children bleeding."
"We are victims of the (Israeli) occupation and victims of the misconduct of fighters who have randomly chosen our area to target Israel," Ghazal said.
Chief Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the killing of the children, predicting violence would breed more violence.
"This will add to the complexities and feed the fire," Erekat said.
Taher Nunu, a spokesman for Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers, said the attack on the heels of the Olmert-Abbas meeting "reaffirms Israel's aggressive intentions, and its disinterest in reaching an understanding with the Palestinian side." He called on Abbas to stop meeting Olmert.
The Fatah faction, headed by the moderate Abbas, is locked in a power struggle with Hamas.
Many Palestinian civilians have been killed in past Israeli attacks aimed at militants. The most serious incident was Nov. 8, 2006, when 18 civilians, including eight children, were killed by Israeli shells. Israel announced a halt to shelling in Gaza after that.
The deaths of the children came at a critical juncture in efforts to revive Mideast peacemaking. At their summit on Tuesday, Olmert and Abbas tackled for the first time the core issues that have scuttled decades of peace efforts - Palestinian refugees, final borders and the fate of Jerusalem. But both sides said they did not get down to details.
Abbas traveled to Jordan on Wednesday to brief King Abdullah II on the talks. After their closed-door meeting, Abbas told state-run Jordan TV that a U.S.-sponsored international peace conference planned for November was at risk of failing if a clear plan for resolving the conflict is not laid out.
"If we go to a conference without clarity on a solution and without a declaration of principles within the framework of a work plan, I don't think that the conference will be beneficial," he said.
Erekat said the Abbas-Olmert talks on the core issues represented "the most important thing that has happened between Israel and the Palestinians since 2000."
Talks began to founder in late 2000 as the Palestinian uprising against Israel reignited.
But another Abbas aide offered a different interpretation. Yasser Abed Rabbo said the talks were not encouraging and warned that Israeli "hesitation" about resolving the toughest issues between the two sides could sabotage the planned peace conference.
"There are no in-depth negotiations that could pave the way to a detailed agreement," Abed Rabbo said.
Israeli government spokesman David Baker said the meeting was "very constructive."
In parallel with the conflict in Gaza, Israel continued its pursuit of militants in the West Bank, which is now controlled by Abbas and Fatah. Thirty-three Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers Wednesday as they arrested militants in Qalqiliya, Palestinian security officials said. All but one were slightly hurt.