Israeli Troops Shoot, Wound Gaza Palestinian

Israeli soldiers shot and wounded a Palestinian man in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, sources on both side of the border said.

Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the emergency services in the Islamist Hamas-run enclave, told AFP the 22-year-old was hit by a bullet east of Khan Yunis and moderately wounded.

Witnesses said the shooting happened when several young Palestinians who were hunting birds approached the security fence separating the territory from Israel and came under fire.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed there had been a shooting.

"This morning terrorists attempted to conceal an explosive device in order to attack IDF soldiers who operate in the proximity of the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip," a statement said.

After calling on them to stop and firing warning shots, the soldiers opened fire "towards the lower extremities of one of the suspects, identifying a hit."

On Friday, one Palestinian was killed and four wounded in incidents along the heavily guarded border.

Before Friday, the last deadly incident in Gaza was on November 1, when four Hamas militants were killed and five Israeli soldiers wounded during an army operation to destroy a Gaza-Israel tunnel.