Israel Says It Didn't Cause Deadly Blast

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Tuesday that Israel was not responsible for a blast that killed eight Gaza beachgoers, rebuffing Palestinian accusations that blamed an Israeli artillery round.

By MARK LAVIE Associated Press Writer

An Israeli inquiry concluded the blast was caused by an explosive buried in the sand, not from Israeli shelling on the afternoon of the Palestinian family's beach picnic.

It was not clear how the explosive got there, or whether it might have been an unexploded Israeli shell from an earlier military barrage. Peretz did not address that issue in his remarks. Israel has been claiming that Hamas militants planted a device to set off against Israeli commandos.

Maher Makdad of the Palestinians' Fatah movement rejected the Israeli claims. "I only heard lies," he said. "I also heard an insistence on continuing these practices, because if they admitted their mistake, we could understand that they are ready to change their policies."

Peretz denied all responsibility.
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