Hamas shells Gaza settlement after girl killed

THE Islamic militant group Hamas said it launched five mortar bombs at a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip yesterday after Israeli army gunfire killed a Palestinian girl.

Witnesses said the shelling damaged a home in Neve Dekalim settlement but there was no word of casualties.

The violence strained a de facto ceasefire brokered by new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a bid to prevent a chaotic power vacuum in Gaza when Israel quits the occupied territory this year.