Baby twins die in strikes

SOARING regional tension in the Middle East boiled over amid fierce fighting in the city of Khan Younis as tens of thousands of Palestinians were shunted out of their southern Gaza homes.

- CHRIS HUGHES

It came as newborn twins were killed alongside their mother and grandmother in Gaza yesterday as their father went to collect their birth certificates.

Aysal and her brother Aser were only four days old when their father Mohammed Abu al Qumsan left the family home in Deir al Balah.

But the family, who are reported to have been displaced from northern Gaza, were killed in an airstrike while he was away. Video showed the father in tears as he said: "I am told it was a shell that hit the house."

Hours after a renewed evacuation was ordered Hamas opened fire on Tel Aviv.

Israeli troops said militants fired two rockets from Khan Younis and one of them landed in the sea off central Israel. The other did not cross into Israeli territory.