An earlier Israeli army raid on the southern West Bank city of Hebron, where a 65-year-old man was killed and five Islamic Hamas movement activists were detained, on Friday outraged the Islamic movement that rules the Gaza Strip.

Left with nine children, she claims the soldiers lied when they said her husband had threatened them. "We are human beings. The Israeli side must respect us,".

Qawasme's wife described the events that occurred in her house early on Friday morning. "They broke into our house, about 60 armed soldiers. When they broke in I was praying but I immediately stopped to see what they wanted.

 "One of the soldiers forcibly closed my mouth with his hand while another went into my old and ill husband's room and shot him in the head until he was dead," she said in tears. "Everything that happened was simply an act of vengeance on Palestinian families."

 "My crippled son was in the house during the incident, he is in a very rough mental state. I myself have yet to digest the events, how and why it happened. Everything the soldiers said about my husband trying to attack them or interrupt them was a lie – he was killed while he was sleeping. I can barely stand on my own two feet, our economic situation is very bad and I don't know how I will deal with life after this disaster which has fallen on our heads."

She added that "we will not stand by and allow this disaster to be forgotten. We will make every effort to reach the people who shot my husband and caused his death. We will ask the responsible elements to punish those responsible for the mental, social and financial anguish they have caused us."

 The Palestinian police have also launched an investigation into the incident, claiming that IDF forces made a mistake when they entered the second floor of the building instead of the first floor. "We will appeal to the responsible elements to intervene."