Israel strikes police post following mortar attack

HEBRON, West Bank -- Israeli attack helicopters struck a Palestinian police post in northern Gaza early Tuesday, after Palestinians fired mortars at Jewish settlements in violence that continued to snarl U.S. efforts to arrange a truce.

One person was slightly injured in the latest Israeli strike, Palestinians said. The building was evacuated before the attack, they said.

The Israeli military said the air strike was retaliation for Palestinian mortar fire at Jewish settlements in Gaza. An Israeli girl was slightly wounded by a mortar shell, a military statement said, "despite Israeli demands that the mortar attacks cease."

On Monday, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a car waiting at a stoplight in Hebron in the West Bank, killing two Palestinian boys, ages 3 and 13, and wounding at least seven people -- including a suspected Islamic militant who was the target of the attack.

The raid drew an angry response from the Palestinian leadership and further complicated peace efforts by U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni, who shuttled between meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in a renewed bid to halt the violence.

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, issued a statement Monday calling on Arafat to dismantle Palestinian radical groups and declare an end to the violent uprising against Israel. European countries have traditionally tilted toward the Palestinians, and the move pointed to the increasing international pressure on Arafat to crack down on militants.

On Monday, U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer endorsed Israel's insistence that negotiations with the Palestinians cannot begin until violence ends.