Israel kills 13 Palestinians in Gaza

GAZA, July 26 (Reuters) Israeli forces killed 13 Palestinians, including eight militants and a three-year-old girl, in fighting across the Gaza Strip today, medics and witnesses said.

Israel has stepped up air strikes and launched raids into Gaza to stop rocket attacks and recover a soldier captured by militants on June 25. The army has killed 134 Palestinians since it began its assault. About half were civilians.

Israeli troops have pursued the offensive in Gaza while fighting on a second front in Lebanon following the capture of two soldiers by Hizbollah guerrillas in a July 12 raid, but have failed to stop rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel.

Saeb Erekat, a top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called on the world to remember the plight of the Palestinians despite the conflict in Lebanon.

''This is the forgotten war,'' he told Reuters. ''We urge the international community to intervene.'' Today's death toll in Gaza was the highest in two weeks.

Among those killed were seven loyalists of the governing Hamas militant group and one gunman from the kindred Islamic Jihad faction, which is also dedicated to destroying Israel.

Medics said a three-year-old and four others were killed, including one civilian. At least 50 people were wounded, including a cameraman for Palestinian television. Six of the wounded were in a critical condition, medics said.

Israel's army, which abandoned Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation, said it had carried out strikes against gunmen.

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