The victims died in two separate Israeli attacks on the eastern part of Gaza City following a day of bloodshed and violence.

Two of the dead were youngsters, aged 11 and 16, and four of them were from the armed wing of the radical Islamic Jihad movement, medical and militant sources said.

Four of the victims died when an Israeli shell slammed into a family home in Shejaiya, medics said.

Several hours later, another four people were killed -- all of them militants -- in an Israeli air strike in the nearby Zeitun neighbourhood.

The surge in bloodshed follows days of rising cross-border violence, which has ramped up tensions between Israel and Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers and once again raised fears of a large-scale Israeli military invasion to stamp out rocket fire.

The latest attack took place in Zeitun, killing four members of the Al-Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, a group spokesman said, naming them as Mohammed Abed, Saada Heles, Adham al-Harazine and Mohammed Atya al-Harazine.

The army confirmed the strike, saying it had hit "a group of terrorists who were about to fire rockets towards Israel."

The air strike came hot on the heels of deadly hit on the Shejaiya house, which killed four, two of them minors, and injured another 12, among them at least three young children.

Emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya said the deaths occurred when Israeli artillery "opened fire on young people who were playing football."

The dead, three of whom were cousins, were named as Mohammed al-Helu, 11; Yasser Ahad al-Helu, 16; Yasser Hamad al-Helu, 50 and Mohammed Harara, 20.

Four of the injured were in serious condition while the other eight were in moderate condition, Abu Selmiya said.

The bloodshed drew an angry response from the armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, which vowed revenge.

"This crime will not go unpunished and the resistance is not afraid of the so-called Zionist deterrence," a Hamas website quoted Brigades spokesman Abu Obeid as saying.

And Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who is currently on a three-day visit to Moscow, condemned "the Israeli escalation which has cost the lives of many Palestinians, including children," his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.

"We ask everyone to remain calm so that it does not affect Mahmud Abbas's planned visit to Gaza which is aimed at forming a government to end the division and to life the siege on Gaza," he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret about the accidental deaths, but emphasised that the shooting was carried out in response to Hamas firing at Israeli citizens.

"It is unfortunate that Hamas continues to rain dozens of rockets down on Israeli civilians, intentionally using civilians as human shields. Israel has no intention of causing the situation to deteriorate but at the same time, the IDF will continue to act decisively to protect Israeli citizens."

UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process Robert Serry also condemned the killings an injuries, with a statement saying "he is very concerned at the escalating situation in Gaza and southern Israel."

The Israeli army confirmed it had fired mortar shells shortly after four Qassam rockets hit Israel, with a spokeswoman insisting it "does not seek an escalation in the south."

The army insisted there were "terrorists among the dead" but nevertheless said it had had opened an investigation into the incident.

It was the third military strike on Shejaiya on Tuesday, following an earlier air strike, which seriously wounded one militant, and a burst of tank fire, which left two civilians moderately injured shortly after dawn.

In the late morning, a man was seriously wounded when an Israeli drone fired a missile at militants whom the army said "were preparing to launch an anti-tank missile" at troops operating nearby.

Earlier, witnesses in the same neighbourhood said two civilians were injured when an Israeli tank opened fire shortly after a Qassam rocket was fired into Israel, causing neither injury nor damage.

Overnight, Israel staged multiple air raids on Gaza, wounding 17 people, including two women and seven children. Most of them were lightly injured.

Two days earlier, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades fired some 50 mortar rounds into the Jewish state, slightly injuring two people, in what was the most intensive bombardment since the end of Israel's 22-day war on January 18, 2009.

That offensive killed 1,400 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers.

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