By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - An Israeli aircraft fired a missile near a school bus in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, killing a 16-year-old Palestinian and wounding four other people, witnesses and hospital officials said.

An Israeli military spokesman said the strike in the town of Beit Lahiya targeted Palestinians who had come to retrieve launchers used to fire rockets into the Jewish state.

On the Palestinian political front, some officials announced agreement in principle between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction on forming a unity government that will not be headed by current Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

Other officials said no final deal had been reached and more talks were needed between Abbas and Haniyeh.

Witnesses to the air attack in Beit Lahiya said the missile landed near a school bus, killing the teenage boy. Among the wounded was a teacher, who was in a critical condition. The identities of the other casualties were not immediately known.

Israeli forces have been operating in Beit Lahiya and nearby Beit Hanoun since last week in a bid to beat back Palestinian rocket crews and gunmen.

At least 49 Palestinians, more than half of them gunmen, and an Israeli soldier have been killed in six days of fighting.

The Hamas Islamist movement, which took office in March after beating Fatah in parliamentary elections, has struggled to govern under a Western embargo imposed over its refusal to recognise Israel.

Deepening economic hardship in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip has prompted efforts to form a unity cabinet that Palestinians hope will ease the sanctions.

POLITICAL PLATFORM

"We have agreed on the political platform of the new government," Hamas lawmaker and senior leader Yahya Moussa told Reuters late on Sunday. "The Hamas movement has also agreed that the next prime minister will not be Haniyeh."

Mustafa Barghouthi, an independent lawmaker who has been mediating between Hamas leaders and Abbas, confirmed a tentative deal had been made.

"There is approval to form a new government headed by a new prime minister," he said. "We are preparing for a meeting between President Abbas and Prime Minister Haniyeh very soon."

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, was less upbeat.

He said an agreement was "imminent", but that important details would have to be worked out by Abbas and Haniyeh. He did not elaborate, but said Hamas would have the right to form the cabinet and the right to name the prime minister under any deal.

An earlier deal to form a unity government collapsed weeks ago, deepening a power struggle and raising fears of civil war.

The main stumbling block has been agreeing the new government's stance towards Israel. Barhoum reiterated the Hamas movement would never recognise Israel.

Some officials said Abbas was expected to meet Haniyeh in Gaza on Monday. However, in a sign of possible problems, an official in Haniyeh's office said a news conference the prime minister planned would not go ahead due to "technical reasons". (Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem)

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