Israeli tank fire kills girl in Gaza, medics say

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed a 9-year-old Palestinian girl and a militant in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian medical workers and Hamas said.

The medics said the girl's remains were recovered from a house in the village of Qarara, east of Khan Younis, that was struck by tank fire.

As the Israeli operation continued, soldiers shot and killed a Hamas gunman, the medics and Hamas officials said.

An Israeli military spokesman said a ground force attacked militants in the central Gaza Strip who had been attempting to launch rockets into Israel from a built-up area. The spokesman said he was unaware of any casualties.

Israel regularly sends its ground and air forces into Gaza in what the military says is a necessary measure to try and stop cross-border rocket and mortar bomb attacks.

The Islamist Hamas movement seized control of Gaza a year ago when its fighters routed President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces. Egypt has been trying to broker a truce to end violence on the Israel-Gaza border.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other top officials have been discussing this week ceasefire prospects and possible broader military action should Egypt's efforts fail.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Ralph Gowling)