IDF soldier lightly wounded in blast in Balata refugee camp

A soldier was lightly wounded when an explosive device detonated while the Israel Defence Forces were operating in the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday.

Earlier Saturday, military sources said IDF soldiers had shot dead a Palestinian who entered a security zone in the central Gaza Strip overnight.

Soldiers stationed near the town of al-Bureij spotted the Palestinian in the security zone at about 80 meters from the fence separating Gaza from Israel and shot him.

They found his body while combing the area in the morning. The man was unarmed, but troops found an explosive device alongside his body, military sources said.

Palestinians could not immediately identify the dead man but medics confirmed his body had been transferred to a Gaza hospital.

Also on Saturday, Palestinian militants fired an anti-tank missile at the settlement of Netzer Hazani in the Gaza Strip. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

Police retrict entry to Friday prayers on Temple MountOn Friday, Jerusalem police restricted entry to the Temple Mount due to threats of possible disturbances in solidarity with security prisoners, who are now in their sixth day of a hunger strike.

Police permitted entry only to Muslim men aged 45 and above who have Israeli identity cards and to all Muslim women. Some 3,000 worshipers congregated for prayers by noon Friday, and more than 1,000 police officers were on alert in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel Radio reported.

Palestinians said Israeli security forces set up roadblocks around Jerusalem, especially along the route between the West Bank city of Ramallah and East Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, Prisons Service officials told Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi in a meeting Friday that nearly 80 percent of the approximately 4,000 security prisoners were participating in the hunger strike.

Prison authorities said they were conducting medical checks of the prisoners, who they said are doing well.

	A mounted policeman watches Muslim worshippers pray on the street outside Jerusalem's Old City on Friday. (Reuters)