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Palestinian youths gesture during a demonstration next to the security fence standing on the Gaza border with Israel, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on November 23, 2012. Photo by AFP

By Reuters and Gili Cohen for Haaretz | Nov.23, 2012 | 11:51 AM

Hamas spokesman accuses Israel of violating the Egyptian-mediated truce, says organization will complain to Cairo; Israeli military spokeswoman says army investigating report.

Israeli gunfire across the Gaza border killed one Palestinian on Friday and wounded several others, medics said, two days after a ceasefire between the territory's Islamist rulers Hamas and Israel took hold.

A Hamas spokesman accused Israel of violating the Egyptian-mediated truce and said the group would complain to Cairo. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army was checking reports of the incident.

Medics said Anwar Qdeih, 23, was hit in the head by Israeli gunfire after he approached the security fence that runs along the Gaza frontier - an area that Israel has long declared a no-go zone for Gazans.

A relative of the dead man, who was at the scene, told Reuters that Qdeih had been trying to place a Hamas flag on the fence. He added that an Israeli soldier had fired into the air three times before Qdeih was hit in the head by a bullet.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said: "We will contact the Egyptian mediator to discuss the incident."

According to the terms of the accord, both Israelis and Palestinians agreed to stop their hostilities. However, the brief document left details on access to the tense border zone to be worked out in the days ahead.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said on Friday the shooting violated the ceasefire agreement.

Malki, speaking at a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi, called the incident "a clear violation of the agreement and should not be repeated."

Seven other Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli gunfire from the border since the start of the ceasefire, medics said. Six of them were hurt on Friday and one on Thursday, when the Israeli military said 200 Palestinian "rioters" approached the fence.

Israel's army constantly patrols the border area and says its forces have come under increasing attack this year, with militants planting explosive devices and firing an anti-tank missile on at least one occasion.

The IDF was preparing for possible disturbances in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Friday morning after worshipers emerged from prayer services at the mosques.
In an effort to minimize potential disturbances, the IDF arrested 55 Palestinians in the West Bank on Thursday.

The Shin Bet security service announced on Thursday that the perpetrators of Wednesday's bus bombing in Tel Aviv, which wounded 28 people, were arrested later that day. It said the security services had arrested several Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives, most of them from the West Bank town of Beit Lakiya, who had confessed to preparing the bomb, choosing the target and buying the cellphone that detonated it from a distance.

Wednesday's ceasefire deal ended eight days of fierce fighting that left 163 Palestinians and six Israelis dead.

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Hamas deploys at Gaza border after Israel
kills Palestinian

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Hamas government in Gaza has deployed security forces near the border with Israel after two shooting incidents in the aftermath of Wednesday's ceasefire.

A Reuters photographer and other witnesses said Hamas officials, coming closer to the Israeli border fence than ever before, escorted Palestinians away from the site.

A security source confirmed the move: "Yes, there are instructions to implement the agreement and at the same time protect the people. The instruction is not to allow people to approach the border fence."

Earlier Friday Israeli forces killed Anwar Abdul Hadi Qudaih, 20, near the Israeli border in the southern Gaza Strip, medical officials said. He was hit in the head with a live bullet east of Khan Younis, medics said.

Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said 19 others were wounded by Israeli fire in the border area.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri accused Israel of violating the Egypt-mediated truce and said the group would complain to Cairo. "We will contact the Egyptian mediator to discuss the incident," he said.

Witnesses told Ma'an a group was gathering to perform prayers on their land near the border.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said that soldiers fired warning shots into the air to push back some 300 Palestinians who had gathered at different locations along the fence and who were attempting to breach the border.

"After the rioters did not comply, the soldiers responded by firing toward the legs of the rioters," she said.

Footage uploaded to YouTube showed people running as gunfire was heard.