Hamas rocket kills Delhi rabbi’s wife

Mirah Scharf, the wife of a rabbi at the Chabad House in New Delhi, was one of three Israelis killed in a militant rocket attack on Israel Thursday as the conflict over Gaza escalated. The website of the orthodox Jewish group said Scharf, 25, was pregnant.

Israeli sources said Hamas fired rockets on the small southern town of Kiryat Malachi and blew up the top floor of a four-storey apartment, killing the three.

Mirah's husband Shmuel and their four-year-old son suffered "medium injuries".

The couple were in Israel as Shmuel was on his way to a global conference of rabbis in New York. The couple had been living in Chabad's New Delhi centre in Paharganj for five years now.

The couple were also due to attend a memorial ceremony in Israel for their colleagues killed in the Mumbai terror attack in November 2008.

Casualties in the latest fighting between Israel and Gaza have mounted with Israeli strikes killing at least 13 Palestinians.

Israel has launched air strikes on Gaza, and has followed up the assassination of Ahmed al-Jabari, a top Hamas commander, with more strikes on Thursday after the Gaza-based group retaliated with rockets.

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