Two Palestinian photographers were shot by Israeli troops while covering violence in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah on Wednesday, witnesses and hospital officials said.
Mahmoud al-Hams (24), an Agence France-Press photographer, was hit in both legs with gunshots and shrapnel while taking pictures of Palestinian schoolchildren throwing stones at Israeli soldiers operating in the area.
AFP bureau chief Christian Chaise said al-Hams was in stable condition at a hospital.
The army said it was checking the report, but said it had only fired at armed gunmen. It said it had hit five armed gunmen, but witnesses said that only unarmed schoolchildren and journalists were in the area.
A Reuters photographer, Suhaid Salem (24) was lightly injured when a bullet nicked part of his arm. A Palestinian ambulance driver was also shot in the shoulder. Reuters declined to comment, saying it was still gathering information.
Witnesses said the clashes erupted after Israeli troops entered Deir al-Balah, demolished two homes and cleared agricultural land.
The area is near a Palestinian school.
The army said the operations were in reaction to a Palestinian ambush in Gaza on Sunday that killed a pregnant Jewish settler and her four young daughters.
Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz announced on Wednesday that Israel was considering the construction of a barrier to protect Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip and their access roads.
”We will do everything we can to guarantee the security of Israelis living in the Gaza Strip. If we have to build a fence, and this is real possibility, we will do it,” he told army radio.
Mofaz was being questioned during a visit to the Gaza Strip to supervise the investigation into the killing of the settler.
The same day, a plan for removing all Gaza settlements proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and which he supported, was overwhelmingly voted down by the ruling Likud party.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace on Tuesday, causing supersonic booms over southern Lebanon and prompting anti-aircraft fire, an AFP correspondent said.
Two loud bangs shook Hasbaya and other nearby areas of the western Bekaa, a district in southeast Lebanon, at around 10.30am (7.30am GMT), he said.
Moments later, anti-aircraft batteries in the areas opened fire, he said.
Booms were later heard over the main southern cities of Tyre, Sidon and Nabatiyeh, police and AFP correspondents said.
In early December, the United Nations hailed a decline in the number of frequent Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace.
The previous month it issued a strong condemnation of the Jewish state for its persistent intrusions since its pullout from the south of the country in 2000 after 22 years of occupation.
The Shiite radical Hezbollah guerrilla movement — backed by Syria and Iran — has threatened Israel with ”costly” reprisals if its aircraft continue their repeated incursions into Lebanese airspace. – Sapa-AFP