The scandal, in which the army is accused of lying to the public and the press over the type of munitions used in the raid, also deals a personal blow to Israeli air force commander Dan Halutz, often tipped as a possible successor to Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon.

"Air Force Commander in Deep Trouble" was the headline splashed across the front page of the Israeli tabloid Maariv.

On October 20, the day after three Israeli soldiers were killed in a Palestinian ambush in the West Bank, Israel launched a series of five deadly air raids on the Gaza Strip.

Twelve Palestinians, including two wanted militants, were killed in an air raid on the central Gaza Strip refugee camp of Nusseirat.

The next day, Halutz invited Israeli journalists to a press conference during which he screened video footage of the raid showing that there were no civilians gathered on the scene and accused the Palestinians of beefing up the death toll.

Halutz then said that the Hellfire missiles fired by Apache helicopters have an effect equivalent to "two assault grenades", said the Maariv military correspondent who attended the briefing.

Puzzled by the high number of victims reported by Palestinian medical sources, left-wing Meretz MP Yossi Sarid demanded that Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz provide further details on the munitions used.

After Mofaz refused to speak, Sarid threatened to unveil "confidential information" over the Nusseirat raid. According to him, the army used "powerful munitions with an unusually large range of impact".

On Wednesday, opposition MP Ahmad Tibi said the army had used a "secret banned weapon" in the raid and accused it of employing military censorship to stop the publication of details related to the issue.

Following a meeting with Halutz on Wednesday, Sarid said it was "obvious that the initial information provided by the army was incomplete."

"Today it is clear that in regard to the IDF's attempted assassination in the Nuseirat refugee camp, journalists were given erroneous information, primarily by way of IAF Commander Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz," wrote Maariv editor Amnon Dankner.

"The future chief of staff cannot lie. The commander of the army has to know when to hesitate," Maariv said.

"Halutz, his defenders will say, tried to protect the secret strategic weapons of the state of Israel. That is his right. Even his duty... Why lie? He could have not related to the matter," it added.

In a statement, an army spokesman said that it was "not possible for operational and security reasons to provide all the details of what went on at Nusseirat.

"The version of the facts which we have given was exact.. but it could be, because of the sensitive nature of the operation, that we were mistaken in the manner in which we chose to describe the methods used in this operation," the spokesman continued.

Sarid for his part plans to take the matter as far as he can. "If he reaches the conclusion that it is his duty to publicise the information he holds, he will do it," his spokesman Roi Yelin told AFP.

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