Four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
A man, who was described as a militant by the Israeli military, and three members of his family were killed when their home came under tank fire.
Another three people, including a three-year-old girl, were wounded in the blast, one day after warnings that civilian homes storing weapons and sheltering 'terrorists' were now a target.
Israeli ground troops are once again operating in southern Gaza and the Karni area east of Gaza City, having withdrawn overnight from the Maghazi refugee camp after a two-day incursion.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has renewed calls for an end to the 'disproportionate' violence in the impoverished coastal territory.
Mr Annan said that without the immediate cessation of such violence and the reopening of closed crossing points Gaza would continue to be 'sucked into a downward spiral of suffering and chaos'.
Living conditions for the 1.4 million people in Gaza have badly deteriorated since direct aid to the Hamas-led government was suspended, plunging the territory deeper into financial crisis.
At least 106 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have now been killed in the impoverished coastal territory since Israel stepped up its efforts to retrieve a captured soldier on 5 July.
Last month, Corporal Gilad Shalit was captured by three Palestinian factions, including the armed wing of Hamas.
