GAZA, May 13 (Reuters) - Israel's air force attacked a Hamas mortar crew in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing at least one militant, the Palestinian Islamist faction and hospital officials said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed an air strike had taken place near Khan Younis refugee camp. The area targeted is regularly used by armed Palestinian factions to fire mortar bombs across the nearby Gaza border into Israel.

Violence in Gaza has persisted despite efforts by Egypt to broker a Gaza truce that could help Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas's secular rival, to make progress in U.S.-sponsored peace talks.

A rocket fired by Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad killed an elderly Israeli woman in a southern village on Monday.

Israeli officials have threatened to step up military attacks in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip but analysts see escalation as unlikely ahead of a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush to the region this week. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Editing by Giles Elgood)

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