Gaza City: Israeli army gunfire killed an elderly farmer and wounded another Palestinian near northern Gaza's border with the Jewish state on Saturday, Palestinian emergency services and witnesses said.
Fuad Abu Matar, 75, died after being "hit with several bullets fired by Israeli occupation soldiers," Muawia Hassanein, head of the Gaza Strip's emergency services, told AFP.
He said the body was found in Jabaliya refugee camp.
Abu Matar was a farmer working on his fields close to the border, according to witnesses, who said another Palestinian, Mohammed Abu Warda, 22, was taken to hospital with bullet wounds.
An army spokesman told AFP soldiers had detected a man approaching the security barrier near the Nahal Oz road crossing and opened fire after warning shots.
"The whole sector near the security barrier is considered a combat zone," he said, accusing the Palestinians of "many provocations and attempted attacks."
The latest incident came as Palestinians and Israeli Arabs marked the "Nakba," or catastrophe, of Israel's establishment 62 years ago and with it the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Arab inhabitants.
