Israeli forces killed a nine-year-old Palestinian girl and a militant in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian medical workers and Hamas said.
The medics said the girl’s remains were recovered from a house in the village of Qarara, east of Khan Younis, that was struck by tank fire.
As the Israeli operation continued, soldiers shot and killed a Hamas gunman, the medics and Hamas officials said.
An Israeli military spokesperson said a ground force attacked militants in the central Gaza Strip who had been attempting to launch rockets into Israel from a built-up area. The spokesperson said he was unaware of any casualties.
Israel regularly sends its ground and air forces into Gaza in what the military says is a necessary measure to try and stop cross-border rocket and mortar bomb attacks.
The Islamist Hamas movement seized control of Gaza a year ago when its fighters routed President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah forces. Egypt has been trying to broker a truce to end violence on the Israel-Gaza border.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other top officials have been discussing this week ceasefire prospects and possible broader military action should Egypt’s efforts fail. – Reuters 2008