GAZA // Israeli troops on the border with the northern Gaza Strip killed a Palestinian youth and wounded three others, including a 14-year-old boy shot in the head, Palestinian medical sources said.
The Israeli military confirmed that soldiers opened fire at several people who entered a no-go zone along the border after ignoring warning shots.
However, a spokesman said he knew of only two Palestinians being hit, both in their lower bodies.
Staff at a local Palestinian hospital named the dead man as Salama Abu Hashish, 22, a shepherd, and said he had been shot in the back.
Adham Abu Selmiya, spokesman for the Hamas-run medical services in Gaza, told AFP the wounded teenager was in serious condition while two others, aged 17 and 18, suffered minor injuries.
He said they were all shot while searching for gravel for construction use.
Soldiers regularly open fire on Palestinians collecting building material from the rubble of destroyed buildings close to the border between the coastal enclave and Israel.
The area has been deemed a no-go zone by Israeli soldiers who fear infiltration and kidnapping attempts.
Robert H. Serry, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, deplored the incident and urged Israel to show "maximum restraint".
"I am distressed that incidents continue in the perimeter area of Gaza, and deplore the killing of one apparently unarmed Palestinian civilian and the injuring of a number of others by Israeli gunfire," he said.
"I call for maximum Israeli restraint and protection of civilians. I reiterate my appeal for calm and an end to violence, to bring about the de-escalation that all parties have stressed they wish to see."
"The UN does not want to see any renewed intensification of conflict," he added.
Between March 26 and December 10, Israeli troops shot at least 19 Palestinian children as they collected gravel in northern Gaza, charity group Defence for Children International says.