Israel and Palestinians bury their dead - PHOTO

He was killed yesterday when a short-range rocket fired by Palestinian militants landed near the border with the Gaza Strip where he was delivering food to Israeli soldiers. He was fatally wounded when a mortar exploded near the vehicle he was traveling in, spraying him with shrapnel.Just a few miles away, across the border in the Gaza Strip, a mother screamed in disbelief as she mourned the death of her young son, who was killed today while he played on a beach in the Gaza Strip with his three cousins.The four boys, named tonight as Ahed and Zakaria Bakr, both aged ten, and two other boys from the Bakr family, both named Mohammad, aged 11 and nine, died in shelling from a nearby Israeli gunboat. Their bodies were draped in Fatah flags during their funerals this afternoon.They were killed as 100,000 Palestinians were urged to evacuate their homes ahead of an Israeli ground offensive. Their deaths bring the number of those killed in the conflict to at least 215, with thousands more injured. Among those reported to have been killed today was a five-month-old baby.A senior official last night said Israel had agreed to a UN ceasefire tomorrow, but it was not known when it would take place.The UN called for Israel to agree to 'a unilateral humanitarian pause' so that aid can be delivered to people in need of food, water and other necessities in Gaza. U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Robert Serry, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, made the appeal after talks with Israel's Coordination Office for Government Affairs in the (Palestinian) Territories. He said that if they agreed, Mr Serry would 'urge the parties in Gaza to respect the pause.'Mr Haq said earlier he was not aware of any time frame for the pause, adding that 'the idea would be to allow for enough time as needed to get aid in.' Hamas had no immediate comment.Earlier on Wednesday, Israel had intensified air and tank strikes on what it says are Hamas militant targets in the Gaza strip after dropping flyers and making automated phone calls ordering hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the north and east of the region to leave their homes by 8am this morning.Their uncle, Abdel Kareem Baker, 41, raged at Israel after the attack.'It's a cold-blooded massacre,' he said. 'It's a shame they didn't identify them as kids with all of the advanced technology they claim they're using.'Following their deaths Save the Children - a leading human rights organisation - warned that one fifth of those killed in the nine-day conflict had been children.An Israeli military spokesman had no immediate comment on the death of the four boys but officials stressed the armed forces tried to avoid civilian casualties, claiming militant rocket crews deliberately put non-combatants at risk by operating in densely populated residential areas. Israeli authorities later said that they were 'carefully investigating' the deaths of the boys.Hamas fired 70 rockets into Israel yesterday.A senior Hamas official says the Palestinian militant group will continue its attacks on Israel and will not accept any cease-fire deal that does not meet its demands.(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.az