Abu Mahmoud was given just eight hours to leave his home on the Egyptian side of the divided Gaza border town of Rafah before authorities began demolishing it to create a buffer zone.

Not only are he and others displaced like him angry, they also say they are often abused and branded traitors and "terrorists" because they come from the lawless frontier in north Sinai.

One Palestinian was killed and two others injured Tuesday when a fuel truck exploded at the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing in southern Gaza, medics said.

"One worker was killed in the fuel area of Kerem Shalom and two others were injured, one seriously," emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told Agence France Presse.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday appointed a five-member panel to investigate Israeli attacks on U.N. shelters during the Gaza war and the discovery of Hamas weapons at U.N. sites.

Ban announced plans to set up a probe during his visit to Gaza last month after describing the three Israeli shellings of U.N.-run schools as a "moral outrage."

Hamas announced the creation of a "popular army" in the Gaza Strip on Friday, saying it was ready for any future conflict with Israel, particularly over the flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound. 

At a ceremony at the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north of the devastated Palestinian territory, a spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades -- the military arm of the Islamist Hamas movement -- said 2,500 recruits would form "the first section of the popular army for the liberation of al-Aqsa and of Palestine."

The International Criminal Court will not launch a prosecution over Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010 in which 10 Turkish activists died, despite a "reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed".

Chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said there would be no investigation leading to a potential prosecution because the alleged crimes, including the killing of 10 activists by Israeli commandos, were not of "sufficient gravity".

The Israeli military displayed "shocking disregard" for civilian lives in Gaza during its devastating 50-day war on militants in the Palestinian territory, Amnesty International said in a report Wednesday.

Israel rejected the London-based rights group's findings, saying it produced "no evidence" to back up its claims in what was effectively "a propaganda tool for Hamas".

Israel has closed two border crossings with Gaza, the army said on Sunday, after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave struck its territory.

"The crossing points for people and goods, Erez and Kerem Shalom, have been closed until further notice except for humanitarian aid," an army spokeswoman said.

A rocket fired from Gaza hit southern Israel on Friday, the Israeli army said, although there were no reports of casualties or damage.

"A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit the Eshkol area in southern Israel," said the spokesman for the army, adding that it was the first rocket to strike Israeli territory since September 16.

Egypt has the right to use a Gaza buffer zone to boost its security, but should also be concerned about the impact on local communities, the United States said Thursday.

"Certainly we believe that Egypt has the right to take steps to maintain their own security. And we understand the threat that they are facing from the Sinai," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

A U.N. human rights watchdog on Thursday urged Israel to respect the rights of Palestinians, and demanded the country probe violations committed during repeated assaults on Gaza.

With tensions soaring in East Jerusalem, and months of almost daily clashes, the U.N. Human Rights Committee published conclusions Thursday from its review earlier this month of Israel's human rights record.