Israeli strike early Wednesday targeted a house in the in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, killing a 14-year-old girl and wounding seven others, hospital officials said.
The attack targeted the house of Sammy al-Shaer, a weapons dealer, witnesses said. The army called al-Shaer 15 minutes before the initial raid, they said, and told him to clear out of the house, which he did.
There were no major injuries in the initial strike, which razed the house. However, as children gathered to look at the rubble, a second air strike hit the house, killing a 14-year-old girl and wounding at least seven other children, hospital officials said.
Also early Wednesday, occupation forces shot and wounded three Palestinian fighters during an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, the Israeli army said.
All in all, Israeli troops abducted 19 Palestinians overnight throughout the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Egypt has demanded that Hamas immediately release a captured Israeli soldier to avoid a worsening crisis in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials and Arab diplomats said, according to the AP.
The Egyptian demand came in a "strongly worded letter" from Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to the Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, the officials said Tuesday.
The letter also demanded Hamas cooperate fully with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in forming a national unity government.
"The leadership has received the Egyptian letter today and is studying it" a Hamas official close to Mashaal told the Associated Press from Damascus.
