Palestinian Hurt by Israeli Tank Fire in Gaza

A Palestinian was seriously wounded by cross-border fire from an Israeli tank in the central Gaza Strip on Friday, a spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry said.

He did not give the man's name or the exact circumstances but said he was 22 years old and close to the border fence with Israel, east of Bureij refugee camp, when he was hit.

The Israeli military said that troops in the area fired at a person seen approaching the fence.

"They believed he was attempting to plant an explosive charge," a spokeswoman told Agence France Presse.

An Israeli army officer on patrol in the same area last week was badly wounded in a bombing claimed by a leftist Palestinian group.