New fights between the Israeli forces and the Palestinian militants broke out today in northern Gaza. The raid occurred in Beit Lahiya and came just hours away from the rejection of a truce offered by Hamas.

One of the missiles fired by the Israeli troops hit a house in the area and killed a 14-year-old girl named Maryam Talat Mahuf. Eight others were also wounded in the attack.

 A spokeswoman for the Israeli military was quoted by the Agence France-Presse as saying: "The air force launched two raids on Saturday morning against armed elements in the northern Gaza Strip... There were also exchanges of fire, but none of our people were hit."

 Hamas also issued a statement saying that Hassan Mahuf, a local leader in the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, lost his daughter in today’s air strike.

 The Israeli troops have been conducting raids in the Hamas-controlled territory as a security measure against the many border-crossing rocket attacks.

 According to the AFP, more than 430 people, most of them Palestinian, have been killed so far since the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians were restarted in Annapolis in November. The large number of deaths has alerted the international authorities but so far the solution has not yet been found.

The Hamas is an armed Islamist movement whose sole purpose is to destroy Israel. It won the 2006 Palestinian elections and since then managed to take control of the Gaza Strip, being responsible for kidnappings, killings and hundreds of armed attacks started from Gaza and into southern Israel. It is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Israel and the European Union.