A 4-year-old girl killed, her mother wounded in an Israeli air strike on Gaza

Thursday June 05, 2008 21:54

by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

The 4-year-old Aya Alnajjar, was killed on Thursday after noon, and her mother was wounded after an Israeli air strike hit the southern Gaza Strip village of Kheza'a.

Palestinian medical sources confirmed that Aya arrived at the hospital with many wounds in her little body as her mother was wounded critically.

The source said that a third residsdnt was also wound.

Witnesses said that the victim child was walking along with her mother down the street in the Kheza'a town in southeastern Gaza Strip, when an Israeli missile mistaken a group of resistance fighters in the area.

The targeted area has been witnessing an Israeli army invasion since the early hours of Thursday morning, as several Israeli tanks rolled few hundred meters depth into this Palestinian village.

The latest Israeli air strike came hours after a Palestinian homemade shell landed on the Israeli settlement town of Nir Auz, near the Gaza Strip, killing one Israeli resident and wounding five others.

The Alqassam brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Hamas party in Gaza, claimed responsibility for the homemade shell fire on Nir Auz.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister, Elhud Olmert, said from Washington yesterday that his army will be yielding no effort to carry on its actions against launchers of hoamemade shells onto nearby Israeli areas. '

Olmert did not exclude a large military offensive on Gaza, saying if this will be the way to ensure halt of such shells, Israel won't delay carrying it out.

The local Hamas senior leader, returned yesterday from Cairo, where and some Hamas representatives were awaiting Israel's response to Hamas's offer for ceasefire, mediate by Egypt in April of this year.

Alzahar told media outlets that so far the Egyptian mediators have no Israeli response to the ceasefire initiative. According to the terms of such a deal, Israel will need to stop all military actions against Gaza and lift a 12-month-old blockade on the Hamas-run territory, and that Hamas will need to ensure halt of homemade shells fire onto Israel.