Palestinian killed by Israeli army along Gaza border

The Israeli army killed a Palestinian in the southeast Gaza Strip Tuesday, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said.

Mahmoud Abu Rukk, 20, was near the Gaza-Israel security fence when Israeli soldiers shot him, the security sources said.

The Israeli army kept firing in the area to the east of Khan Younis city after the incident, which delayed ambulance workers from reaching the body, residents said.

Meanwhile, sources said that Abu Rukk was a member of the Popular Resistance Committees, a militant group affiliated with Gaza's Hamas rulers, adding that it is said he was monitoring the fence.

Violence has flared up along Gaza-Israel border recently, with Palestinian militants fired rockets into Israel and the Israeli aircraft carry out retaliatory strikes on Gaza.

Over the past week, two Palestinians were killed along the border in an Israeli-enforced 300-meter-wide buffer zone.

The Islamic Hamas movement last week renewed its commitment to the fragile ceasefire with Israel after a fierce Israeli military operation in late 2008.

Source: Xinhua