Palestinian woman killed in Israeli air strike

GAZA, June 21 (Reuters) One woman was killed and 13 other Palestinians were wounded today in what appeared to be the latest in a series of botched Israeli missile strikes against Gaza militants, witnesses said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed that the army had carried out a strike against ''a militant cell'', but gave no further details.

The strike brought to 13 the number of Palestinian civilians killed in recent Israeli air attacks, a death toll that has brought international criticism and pushed Israel to defend its tactics.

Witnesses said an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car on a main road near the militant stronghold of Khan Younis.

The car, carrying members of the Islamic Jihad militant group, escaped the attack but the missile slammed into a house.

Among the 13 wounded were a pregnant woman and four children, including two less than a year old. Medics said some were in critical condition.

ROCKET FIRE Israel says air strikes are necessary to stem rocket fire into the Jewish state by Palestinian militants.

The army has said it regrets civilian casualties and does its utmost to prevent them.

Israeli leaders are under growing political pressure to crack down on militants who have been firing crude rockets which cause few Israeli casualties but sow consternation.

Militants stepped up rocket fire after a June 9 blast that killed seven Palestinians on a Gaza beach. The deaths, for which Israel said it was not responsible, prompted the ruling Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to call off a 16-month-old truce.

Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz, leader of the centre-left Labour Party, has vowed to step up military responses to the rocket fire from Gaza.

With his hometown of Sderot, near the Gaza border, under frequent rocket attack, he has dropped hints Israel might resume assassinating Hamas leaders.

Palestinians have condemned the bloodshed and said it would fuel more violence.

REUTERS KD BST0109