Jerusalem

Israeli woman killed by rocket from Gaza

A rocket fired from Gaza killed a young Israeli woman Thursday, hours after Israeli forces raided the home of a 67-year-old British citizen West Bank and killed a militant – incidents that further shook a five-month truce already threatened this week by a suicide bombing.

Two rockets exploded Thursday afternoon in the village of Nativ Haasara. One hit a house and killed a woman in her 20s, the military said. The second destroyed a parked car. A Palestinian militant group, the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, said the rocket attack was retaliation for the killing of the militant. The Islamic Hamas also claimed responsibility, according to media reports.

Israel responded to the rocket attack hours later as helicopters fired missiles in two locations in Gaza early Friday, witnesses said. One target was a Hamas cultural center north of Gaza City, and the other was a cemetery next to Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where militants launch rockets and mortars at nearby settlements. There were no casualties.

The Israeli military said the target in southern Gaza was a building used by Hamas as a warehouse for weapons but had no comment about the other airstrike.

South Korea

Envoys get head start on N. Korea nuclear talks

Negotiators from Japan, South Korea and the United States met Thursday to coordinate strategy for resuming talks to pressure North Korea to give up its atomic weapons, after the North’s leader reportedly said a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula was his father’s dying wish.

North Korea agreed Saturday to end a 13-month boycott of the six-nation talks after being assured by the chief U.S. nuclear envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, that Washington recognized its sovereignty.

The three declined to comment to reporters before heading into a meeting at the South Korean Foreign Ministry.

A senior South Korean government official said Thursday that Seoul hopes to change the format for the next nuclear talks – set to convene the week of July 25 – which previously lasted several days. Instead, the talks could be extended so all sides have a chance to negotiate rather than simply state their positions, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity, South Korea’s policy for working-level officials.