GAZA CITY (AFP) — A Palestinian civilian on a donkey cart was shot dead by Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics and witnesses said.
Hassan Abed, 60, was shot in Al-Qarara near the border fence between the Hamas-run territory and Israel, they said.
An army spokesman said the report was being investigated.
Two Hamas militants were also killed and a third seriously wounded in an explosion that rocked a position south of Gaza City used by the armed wing of the Islamist movement that runs Gaza.
Hamas initially claimed the explosion was caused by an air raid, but later said the militants were killed "while carrying out a jihad mission." It gave no further details.
A military spokesman said the Israeli armed forces were not responsible for the blast.
Since Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks in late November at least 356 people have been killed in violence, most of them militants in Gaza, according to an AFP tally.
In all, 6,319 people have been killed since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000, the vast majority of them Palestinians, according to a separate AFP count.
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