DATE=08/30/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS UPDATE (SHORT)

NUMBER=2-307014

BYLINE=ROSS DUNN

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Israeli troops have shot dead an 8-year-old Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip, in what the Israeli army says was an accidental killing. Her death came just hours after Israeli forces deliberately targeted Hamas activists in Gaza, killing two of them.

Ross Dunn has more on the story from Jerusalem.

TEXT: The girl, identified as Aya Fayad, was shot in the chest by soldiers firing at the Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.

Several other Palestinians were wounded.

Israel radio, quoting Israeli army officials, said that the girl had been mistakenly hit by tank fire meant to deter the launching of Palestinian mortars.

Earlier on Saturday, Israel killed two members of Hamas in a helicopter missile strike, the fifth such operation against the organization in the past 10 days.

The two were identified as Abdullah Akel, 37 and Farid Mayet, 40, both members of the military wing of Hamas, a group that has carried out numerous suicide bombings.

Mr. Akel, a leading field commander with Hamas in central Gaza, was the main target of the operation.

He is blamed for firing mortar shells and homemade Kassam rockets at Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and towns inside Israel. (Signed)

NEB/MEM