Tel Aviv - Israel admitted Wednesday that it had indeed been an Israeli tank which fired at the eastern Gaza City home of a Palestinian doctor last month, killing three of his daughters.

The girls' deaths were among the most publicized during Israel's 22-day Gaza offensive, as the family's tragedy had unravelled live on Israeli television.

Doctor Ezz al-Din Abu al-Aish, a gynaecologist from northern Gaza, works at the Tel Hashomer hospital east of Tel Aviv and speaks fluent Hebrew.

He was being interviewed by Israel's Channel 10 television when two tank shells hit his apartment, killing three of his eight children.

Two others were injured as was he, and they were taken to hospitals in Israel. The doctor's brother was also killed as were two nephews in the shelling. His wife had died of cancer three years ago.

"My girls, oh God, they've killed my girls," cried Abu al-Aish, the doctor, as a shocked-looking Channel 10 reporter held his mobile phone to the microphone during a live broadcast.

The January 16 incident had shocked Israelis, who had been largely shielded from the images of the devastation caused by the Gaza offensive, broadcast on foreign television networks.

The Israeli military launched an internal investigation, results of which were published Wednesday.

"The conclusions found that two shells were fired from an IDF (Israel Defence Forces) tank resulting in the deaths of Dr. al-Aish's three daughters," it said in a statement sent to the media.

The military expressed grief at the deaths, but stopped short of apologizing, saying the force which fired the shells had been under threat from local militants and its commander's decision to fire towards the building had been "reasonable."

It noted it had earlier warned Dr. al-Aish to evacuate his home, both by contacting him personally and by dropping leaflets and issuing calls via local media on residents to leave the area of the intense fighting.

Dr. al-Aish told Israel's Channel 2 television Wednesday night he was relieved the truth had come out.

"I want to thank all those who acted and who had the courage and the conscience to bring the truth which I believed in to light," he said, pleading for the Israeli military to learn a lesson from the mistakes it made, but never to repeat them.

He said doctors at the Tel Hashomer hospital in Israel had managed to save the eye and fingers of his seriously injured surviving daughter, and a critically injured niece was out of danger and now conscious.

The military said the force from the elite Golani Infantry Brigade operating in the Sheja'eyah neighbourhood had come under sniper and mortar fire "in an area laden with explosives."

The force returned fire at the local militants and during the exchange of fire identified what it thought were "suspicious figures" in the upper level of Dr. al-Aish's house.

The commander thought they were "spotters" directing the Hamas sniper and mortar fire, said the military statement.

"Upon assessing the situation in the field while under heavy fire, the commander of the force gave the order to open fire on the suspicious figures," it said.

"Following the opening of fire, screams were heard from the direction of the house and immediately the IDF force ceased all fire," the statement said.

It added that the IDF acted to allow for ambulances to evacuate the injured via the Erez crossing between northern Gaza and Israel to Israeli hospitals, when its troops understood the house was that of Dr. al-Aish.

"The IDF is saddened by the harm caused to the al-Aish family, but at the same time states that considering the constraints of the battle scene, the amount of threats that endangered the force, and the intensity of fighting in the area, the forces' action and the decision to fire towards the building were reasonable," said the statement.

It promised no legal action against the soldiers involved.

The investigation was conducted by the commanders of the Israeli forces which had operated in the area of the incident and by the division commander. Its conclusions were presented Tuesday to Israeli Army Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, said the statement.

International rights groups have called for independent investigations into civilian deaths in the Gaza offensive, launched by Israel December 27 to curb rocket and mortar attacks from the coastal enclave at its southern population centres.

Some 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the offensive. According to the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, some 70 per cent of them were civilians. Thirteen Israelis were also killed, three of them civilians. (dpa)