Israeli forces kill Palestinian on Gaza border

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed a Palestinian on the Israel-Gaza border on Monday, Palestinian medical workers said, and militants in the Gaza Strip fired three rockets at southern Israel, wounding a soldier.

The frontier between Israel and the Gaza Strip, a coastal enclave ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement, has been largely quiet over the past several weeks and the incident did not appear to herald any sharp surge in violence.

The medical workers identified the dead man as a farmer and said the Israeli army told them to come to the frontier -- an area Israel has declared off-limits to Palestinians and where militants have planted bombs in the past -- to pick up his body.

A second Palestinian was wounded in the incident, the medical workers said, also identifying him as a farmer.

An Israeli spokeswoman said two "suspicious people" had approached the border fence and were shot by Israeli forces after they ignored shouted orders to halt and then warning fire.

Later, three rockets fired from the Gaza Strip struck Israel, slightly wounding a soldier, she said.

A military affairs commentator for Israel's Channel Two television described the violence as "localised" and said neither Israel nor Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip appeared to be interested in escalating the situation.