Israeli troops have shot dead a seven-year-old Palestinian girl in Gaza.
The girl was killed by Israeli gunfire that struck the Khan Younis refugee camp in apparent retaliation for an earlier volley of mortars that hit the Gush Katif settlement bloc, Palestinian medics said.
A military source confirmed troops opened fire at Khan Younis but claimed they aimed at Palestinian mortar crews.
Four Israelis were injured by mortar fire, according to the Israeli defence forces.
Today's mortar attack followed an Israeli air strike that wounded a leader of the militant Popular Resistance Committees in southern Gaza yesterday in Israel's first assassination attempt since Yasser Arafat died in a Paris hospital on Novembert 11th.
