Soldier moderately hurt near Gaza fence

An Israel Defense Forces soldier was moderately wounded yesterday when the jeep in which he was traveling was hit by an explosive device near the Gaza Strip security fence.

The soldier was hit in the head by shrapnel and was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva. Three more soldiers in the jeep were not hurt in the incident.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

"We have launched an investigation and will deal with this incident according to our national interest to preserve calm," Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa said.

The incident was the second this week in Gaza in which there have been Israeli casualties. On Monday, a soldier was moderately wounded and a civilian lightly hurt by Palestinian sniper fire along the Philadelphi route on the border with Egypt.

A significant number of the violent incidents in the Gaza Strip in the past two weeks have been perpetrated by the Palestinian Resistance Committee (PRC), a local offshoot of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement headed by Jamal Abu-Samhada. The group took responsibility for Monday's shooting along the Philadelphi route.