Israelis shoot and kill another Palestinian girl

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead a 7-year-old Palestinian girl in a Gaza refugee camp on Friday, medics said, after militants wounded four Israelis in a mortar attack on a nearby Jewish settlement.

The girl was killed by gunfire that struck Khan Younis 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 said they aimed at Palestinian mortar crews. The army insists it does its utmost to avoid civilian casualties.

Three Israelis were moderately injured and one lightly hurt by mortar fire, the army said. Such attacks in occupied Gaza are frequent -- but only a small number have caused casualties -- and often lead to Israeli military reprisals.

Hamas, a militant group sworn to Israel's destruction, claimed responsibility.

The mortar attack followed an air strike that wounded a leader of the militant Popular Resistance Committees in southern Gaza on Thursday in Israel's first assassination attempt since Yasser Arafat died in a Paris hospital on Nov. 11.