The Israeli army committed a clear violation of the laws of war when it killed 12 Palestinians, including women and children, in an air strike on a Gaza home last month, Human Rights Watch charged on Friday.

The raid, carried out during Israel's eight-day Operation Pillar of Defense, was on the home of a family whose father, Mohammed Jamal al-Dallu, 29, the Israelis described as a "known terrorist".

The Israeli army committed a clear violation of the laws of war when it killed 12 Palestinians, including women and children, in an air strike on a Gaza home last month, Human Rights Watch charged on Friday.

The raid, carried out during Israel's eight-day Operation Pillar of Defense, was on the home of a family whose father, Mohammed Jamal al-Dallu, 29, the Israelis described as a "known terrorist".

Hamas leader in exile Khaled Meshaal made his first visit to Gaza on Friday, kissing the ground and saying he hoped he would one day die a "martyr" in the Palestinian territory.

After his seven-vehicle convoy swept across the border from Egypt, Meshaal got out and kissed Palestinian soil before embracing Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.

A Palestinian shot by Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday has died of his wounds, a Palestinian medical official said.

The official said that Mahmud Jarghun, 21, died early on Saturday morning at a hospital near the town of Rafah, of a gunshot wound to the pelvis.

The U.S. and Israel on Thursday hailed the performance of the Iron Dome defense system during the recent Gaza conflict, with Washington stressing its continued "strong commitment" to the program.

The much vaunted Israeli anti-missile system played a prominent role in the eight-day confrontation between the Jewish state and Gaza-based militants that ended with a November 21 ceasefire deal.

Waving their national flag and expressing hope for a new voice on the international stage, Palestinians rallied on Thursday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip ahead of their new U.N. bid.

Thousands gathered at celebratory demonstrations across the territories in the hours before Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was to address the General Assembly on the bid for enhanced U.N. status.

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal is to make his first-ever visit to the Gaza Strip at the end of next week, accompanied by top officials, a senior Hamas source said on Wednesday.

"Meshaal will arrive in the Gaza Strip accompanied by a number of members of the Hamas politburo-in-exile a day before the Hamas anniversary, to participate in the celebrations," the source said, referring to the start of festivities on December 8 to mark the Islamist movement's 25th birthday.

FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke has pledged that football's world governing body will help rebuild the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, after it was partially destroyed in Israeli air strikes.

"We see it our mandate to rebuild football infrastructure which has been destroyed," Valcke was quoted as saying on fifa.com. "We will also rebuild the stadium in Gaza, which has been destroyed.

There was "no mistake" in an Israeli air strike that killed 12 Palestinians in Gaza, including 10 from the same family, the Israeli army said on Tuesday, saying the raid targeted a "terror operative."

The November 18 strike, in the middle of a conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, hit the home of the Dallu family, killing 10 of its members, and two neighbors, including five children and five women.

A March 14 delegation will be visiting Gaza to meet with several officials in the district, reported Future TV on Monday.

“March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid will head the delegation going to Gaza on Tuesday,” Radio Voice of Lebanon (100.5) said.