New Killing Mars Mideast Peace Prospects

Palestinian doctors say a 4-year-old girl has been killed and her mother wounded in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip.

Hamas security says an Israeli aircraft targeted a group of militants in the southern Gaza Strip but missed them. Relatives of the girl said that she and her mother were in the yard of a house that was hit by the errant missile.

Israel did not immediately confirm the airstrike.

Thursday's airstrike came shortly after Palestinian mortar fire on a southern Israeli border community. CBS News correspondent Robert Berger reports the attack killed one person and left two seriously wounded.

The mortar fired from the Gaza Strip slammed into a factory in an Israeli kibbutz, said Berger, who added that residents in the border communities often accuse the government and army of failing to protect them, putting further pressure on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to order an invasion of Gaza.

Berger reported that the Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, claimed responsibility for the attack. Israel is reluctant to invade heavily populated Gaza, but its patience is running out.

The attack dealt a new setback to Egyptian efforts to mediate a truce between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers and raised the likelihood of a tough Israeli military reprisal.

Israeli government spokesman David Baker said Hamas "will be held accountable." Israeli defense officials were set to meet Sunday after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert returns from the U.S. to discuss a response.

Berger reports chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said Thursday that achieving President Bush's goal of a peace agreement with Israel by the end of the year would take a "miracle."

Qureia said the gaps are too wide on core issues like ownership of Jerusalem, refugees' right to return home and Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. Underlining the sour atmosphere, the Palestinians urged the European Union not to upgrade ties with Israel because of settlement expansion in the West Bank.

If there was a slightly more positive development Thursday, it was the hope that rival Palestinian factions could be headed toward reconciliation.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Wednesday for new dialogue with Hamas, a year after the Islamic militant group routed his forces and seized control of Gaza Strip. It was a major about face for Abbas, who has vowed not to talk to Hamas until it reverses what he calls the "coup" in Gaza.

Hamas welcomed the gesture. Palestinian officials said Abbas is turning to Hamas because there has been no progress in the peace talks with Israel.