Israeli troops kill Palestinian gunman

Israeli soldiers have killed a Palestinian militant in a clash along the Gaza-Israel border, the Israeli army and a Palestinian militant group said.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a militant group affiliated with President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement, announced that one of its men was killed in the clash, and that another was wounded.

Abu Khassan, an Al Aqsa commander, said the group’s gunmen detonated a bomb when an Israeli patrol passed by, blowing a hole in the border fence. One gunman was killed by the Israeli troops when he crossed the fence into Israel, Abu Khassan said.

Abu Khassan claimed that one of the Israeli vehicles was damaged and set on fire by the blast, and that there were Israeli soldiers wounded.

The army denied any soldiers had been wounded. Soldiers along the border spotted two Palestinian militants planting a bomb along the fence and opened fire, the army said, and one of the Palestinians was killed in the exchange of fire.

In a separate incident today, Israeli soldiers along the border with northern Gaza shot and wounded two Palestinians who approached the fence. When the Palestinians did not heed calls to leave the area, the army said, soldiers fired at their legs. Similar incidents have been common in recent months.

No Palestinian confirmation was immediately available.

In late November, Israel and the Palestinians reached a truce in the Gaza Strip, and Israel called off its military operations there.

The truce has been marred by sporadic shootings along the border fence and by nearly daily Palestinian rocket fire into Israel.