Israel kills two Palestinians in north Gaza-medics

Gaza: Israeli soldiers clashed with Palestinian gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing one militant, hospital officials said.

In a separate incident overnight, an unidentified Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli troops while approaching the strategic Karni border crossing.

Early on Saturday, Israeli forces fought militants east of the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.

A 23-year-old member of the militant group Islamic Jihad was shot dead by the soldiers, Palestinian hospital officials said. Witnesses said the militant was shot after firing a rocket-propelled grenade at the troops.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said soldiers operating in the area fired at two militants who had approached them and identified hitting one. It was not immediately clear if it was the same incident.

In Gaza City, meanwhile, dozens of members of the Palestinian security forces set to trash and tires to protest a delay in the payment of their salaries. The ruling Hamas has been the target of an international aid boycott and has had trouble paying the Palestinian Authority's 165,000 civil servants, including members of the security forces.

The fresh violence came amid signs of further trouble in unity government talks between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Prime Minister Esmail Haniya of Hamas.

Senior Palestinian officials said Abbas had planned to announce on Saturday that he was naming a US-trained academic, Mohammad Shbair, to replace Haniyeh as prime minister.

But Haniya has refused to step aside until a final agreement on a unity government is reached.