The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Tuesday that Israeli soldiers had shot and wounded four Palestinian ambulance medics who were giving first aid to Palestinians injured in clashes in the Gaza Strip.
The PRCS said in a statement that Jihad Abu Ataya, 44, was critically wounded by an Israeli bullet which went into his back and out of his chest during a clash in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza.
The PRCS said three other medics were injured by shrapnel. Palestinian hospital officials said some 85 people were wounded in Khan Younis during the fighting.
An Israeli army spokesman said troops in the field received no reports that they had wounded medics during the fierce gun battle that raged for several hours on Tuesday.
Gun battles intensified after Israeli helicopter forces carried out a pinpoint missile attack, killing a member of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's elite security force. A 14-year-old Palestinian boy was also killed in Gaza in disputed circumstances.
The PRCS said a number of its ambulances had been shot at or delayed by Israeli soldiers at checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the Palestinian revolt against Israeli occupation.
At least 389 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed in nearly five months of fighting between the two sides.
Reuters