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An Israeli soldier guides a tank to a new position at a staging area near the Israel Gaza Strip Border, southern Israel yesterday. Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

Palestinian man shot dead near Gaza border

The man was the first casualty since the two sides agreed a ceasefire, with nineteen other Palestinians wounded by gunfire in the incident.

A PALESTINIAN MAN was shot dead by Israeli forces near the Gaza border today, the first casualty since the two sides agreed a truce ending their week-long conflict, Palestinian medical sources said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman could not confirm the incident, saying only that “disturbances” had broken out on the Palestinian side of the Gaza border early today, prompting Israeli soldiers to fire warning shots.

The Palestinian emergency services identified the dead man as Abdelhadi Qdeih Anwar, 21. They said he was killed in the southern Gaza Strip village of Khuzaa. Nineteen other Palestinians suffered gunshot wounds.

“The occupation forces opened fire on a group of farmers,” Gaza emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya said.

Witnesses told AFP the men were trying to reach fields that were off limits according to Israeli regulations which qualify areas around the border as no-go zones.

A Hamas spokesman in Gaza said the incident marked a clear violation by Israeli forces of the terms of the truce.

“This is the first Israeli violation of the truce,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP.

Hamas “will raise this violation with Egyptian mediators to make sure that it does not happen again.”

The Israeli army spokeswoman said that troops were forced to open fire after hundreds of Palestinians attacked a border fence in an apparent attempt to take it down.

“Around 300 Palestinians tried to get close to the security fence. They engaged in violent activity and damaged the fence,” the spokeswoman said.

“The soldiers proceeded to fire warning shots in the air, but the Palestinians continued to close in, and the soldiers then fired at their feet.”

Eight days of Gaza violence that ended with a truce agreement Wednesday claimed the lives of 163 Palestinians and six Israelis.

This video footage from Russia Today reportedly shows the scene of the shooting at the border fence.

(Uploaded by RussiaToday)

- (c) AFP 2012.

Additional reporting by Michelle Hennessy.

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    Mute Faceless Man
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    Dec 24th 2011, 11:50 AM

    This was practically guaranteed the moment launched the winter ready campaign

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    Mute Orion
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    Dec 24th 2011, 12:39 PM

    There is still over two months of winter left, whos to say we wont have extreme blizzards and record low temps come Jan or Feb???

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    Mute Alan Breslin
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    Dec 24th 2011, 1:04 PM

    I just read* an interesting statistic that says that no matter what the news is someone will always come along and either link/blame it on current/past governments!!! It’s the freaking weather FFS!!

    * made up!!

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    Mute Hugh Chaloner
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    Dec 24th 2011, 1:20 PM

    I wonder if it happened during Bertie’s reign?

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    Mute Jay Coleman
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    Dec 24th 2011, 12:26 PM

    Typical, I buy winter tyres for my rhd car and this happens :( for summer I’m going to buy an umbrella and raingear; we might get lucky :)

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    Mute Cormac Cahill
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    Dec 24th 2011, 11:50 AM

    Out of interest, would you be able to find the temperatures for xmas in 1973 and 1975? just to see the difference. Wonder is the difference as big as this yrs and last yrs.

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    Mute Anna Nagorcka
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    Dec 24th 2011, 12:33 PM

    Is it not “Murphy’s Law”, the Government is prepared for snow therefore we won’t be hit!
    Pity they weren’t prepared for all other eventualities! Prevention is better than the cure!
    God knows they don’t have a cure for the situation we’re in now! And Yes I know it’s bringing up politics again but it effects every facet of our lives.

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    Mute Tom McDermott
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    Dec 24th 2011, 3:11 PM

    Looks like i picked the wrong year to invest in Grit/Salt dammit!!

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    Mute Brian O' Brien
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    Dec 24th 2011, 9:41 PM

    Looks like our expert from Donegal got it wrong, heatwave for summer and a colder winter, even he got it wrong thank god.

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