Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian and another at a Gaza Strip checkpoint on Thursday, shortly after a drive-by shooting wounded five Israeli soldiers, Palestinian security officials said.
The dead man was identified as Monyer Mustapha Abu Musa, 33, shot in the head while driving in a taxi near an Israeli checkpoint between the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom and the Gush Katif settlement bloc, they said.
The army said the shooting was in response to the attack on the soldiers.
Abu Musa's death brings the total number of people killed in the year-long Middle East conflict to 818 people, 627 of them Palestinians and 168 Israelis.
The incident further battered a fragile cease-fire put in place on Tuesday by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the Israeli army -- GAZA CITY (AFP)
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