Israeli troops kill Palestinian who stabbed settler

Israeli Army troops on Monday shot dead a young Palestinian who sneaked into the town of Ashkol east of Gaza and stabbed a female settler, a military spokesman said. The spokesman told Israel Radio the young man, who stabbed the settler with a knife after infiltrating through the fence around the strip, was gunned down when he tried to flee the scene. Ashkol is located close to the eastern part of the demarcation line circling the strip. Palestinian activists, during the past few days, climbed over the fence defying Israeli troops, positioned on the other side of the line. One was killed and 22 others were wounded when the troops confronted the activists, who were protesting Israel's recent military offensive on Gaza. Israeli military forces man checkpoints and stage regular military patrols around the strip, controlled by the Palestinian Islamic organization, Hamas. Separately, Palestinian radio stations reported that a Palestinian, Ahmad Al-Meshehrawi, who was seriously wounded in an Israeli air strike on Al-Zaitoun district southeast of Gaza city during the recent attacks, succumbed to his injuries and passed away early today. He lost his life after undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit at Al-Shifaa Hospital. His death increased the death toll of the wide-scale Israeli offensive on Gaza to 170. Israel began the military operation on the 14th of this month with assassination of Ahmad Al-Jaabari, the chief of the military wing of Hamas, Izz-Eddine Al-Qassam Brigades. The Israeli attacks left some 1,234 wounded Palestinians and extensive heavy damage in the strip and Gaza city.