An Israeli army officer was killed and another soldier slightly injured today when a Palestinian gunman opened fire on them in the northern Gaza Strip.
An Israeli military spokesman said: "A Palestinian sniper opened fire on an Israeli army unit which was checking that a road was safe".
Israeli soldiers then rushed to the scene and shot the gunman dead, he added.
The Palestinian was identified by local officials as Mr Mahmud Siyam, a 22-year-old member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
Mr Siyam's body was later handed over to the Palestinian authorities and transferred to Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital, medical sources said.
The incident occurred near the northern Gaza Strip Jewish settlement of Nitzanit.
AFP