JERUSALEM: A Palestinian gunman killed an Israeli on the Gaza Strip border on Friday, an Israeli security source said.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official account of the incident from Israel's military, gave no further details on the fatality nor on the condition of the gunman.

Palestinian witnesses heard shooting near Abassan, a border village in southern Gaza that is also close to the Egyptian frontier. They said Israeli forces set off smoke bombs to obscure the view as helicopters landed at the scene.

Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers and other militants are hostile to the Jewish state, but violence had abated in recent months as rival Palestinian factions negotiate power-sharing deals and monitor the political upheaval in Egypt. AGENCIES