Israeli fire kills Palestinian in Gaza

Israeli soldiers shot dead one Palestinian and wounded another in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, a spokesman for the territory\'s emergency services said. The two men, one a 20-year-old farmer, were hit by live fire east of Jabaliya and near the Israeli border, Ashraf al-Qudra said. The military said only that one Palestinian was hit in the leg after trying to damage the barrier separating Gaza from Israel when dozens of people approached and ignored orders from troops to back away, who then opened fire. Friday\'s fatality would be the third Palestinian killed by Israeli forces since a November 21 truce between the Jewish state and the Islamist group Hamas ended eight days of hostilities between the two sides. Over the course of the battle between Israel and Gaza militants, 177 Palestinians -- more than half of them civilians -- were killed by Israeli air strikes. Six Israelis -- four of them civilians and two soldiers -- were killed by rocket and mortar fire from Gaza. Israel maintains a no-go zone on the Gaza side of the border. Since the truce went into effect, it has allowed Palestinians to approach to within 300 metres (yards) of the frontier, while farmers may move as close to it as 100 metres if they are on foot.