Israeli troops kill Palestinian doctor, medics say

GAZA - Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian doctor and wounded three other people in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian medical sources said.

They said Samir Hijazi, 38, physician, died of wounds he sustained when the army fired tank shells and automatic gunfire toward the Rafah refugee camp near the Gaza Egyptian border. Three others were also hurt in the incident.

Israeli military sources said troops fired tank shells and other weaponry at three suspected militants crawling toward a road patrolled by the army deep inside an off-limits area near the Gaza-Egypt border.

"The forces fired at them and identified three hits," a military source said.

Palestinians said Hijazi was critically wounded by gunfire as he passed by a petrol station close to his home on the outskirts of the camp. Medics who evacuated him recognised him as being a local physician, hospital officials said.

Two of the wounded were evacuated from near an embankment used by militants and a third was inside the camp when he was hit, medics said.

Ambulances were waiting to evacuate other Palestinians possibly wounded along the border corridor, they said.

The Gaza-Egypt border is a frequent flashpoint for violence between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants and weapons smugglers who operate in the area.

- REUTERS