Palestinian girl and Israeli killed as violence spikes

Occupied Jerusalem: An Israeli missile aimed at a group of fighters struck a house in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday and killed a six-year-old Palestinian girl, Palestinian officials said, hours after an Israeli was killed by a Hamas mortar barrage fired from the area.

The sudden spike in violence dealt a new setback to Egyptian efforts to mediate a truce between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers and raised the likelihood of a tough Israeli military reprisal.

The Palestinian girl was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The Israeli army confirmed the aerial attack and said it had hit a "gunman." But Hamas security officials said the missile missed a group of fighters and struck a nearby house. The girl, who was playing outside, was killed and her mother was wounded, said Dr Moaiya Hassanain of the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The airstrike came shortly after Hamas claimed responsibility for the deadly mortar attack in southern Israel. The mortar shells were fired from the same area targeted in the airstrike, the army said.

Israeli government spokesman David Baker said Hamas "will be held accountable" for the mortar attack. Israeli defence officials were set to discuss a response at a meeting on Sunday after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert returns from the US.

The Israeli army said the mortar shells landed near a factory in the Nir Oz communal farm. Israel's national rescue service, Magen David Adom, said that in addition to the death, one person was in serious condition and two others were moderately wounded.

Hamas said it had fired three mortar shells "as a response to the nonstop aggression against our people." Israel frequently conducts airstrikes and ground incursions in the Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rocket and mortar fire. But the area has been largely quiet in recent weeks as Egypt works to wrap up a truce agreement.

Olmert is expected to convene his Security Cabinet, a gathering of senior government ministers and defence officials, on Sunday to discuss the ongoing violence in Gaza.

Water agency: Hamas takes control

Hamas has seized control of the Palestinian water agency that is spearheading Middle East envoy Tony Blair's signature project in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian and Western officials said.

Hamas's takeover of the Palestinian Water Authority in Gaza cements the group's control over the territory and could cast doubt on the future of the North Gaza Sewage Treatment Works project - a centrepiece of an economic package touted by Blair to try to bolster the chances of a peace deal this year.

- Reuters