Israeli troops kill intruder at border village

JERUSALEM - Israeli troops patrolling near a collective farming village on the Gaza border shot and killed a Palestinian infiltrator early Monday after he stabbed a female resident, the army source told Xinhua.

The woman, a resident of Moshav Sde Avraham, interrupted the intruder as he was breaking into her home, at which point he stabbed her with a sharp object, lightly wounding her, military source confirmed.

The assailant then fled, and the woman alerted resident security forces and a nearby army patrol, who both gave chase to the assailant.

"After calling on the man to stop, and then firing into the air, the Israeli troops opened fire and shot and wounded the infiltrator," the source told Xinhua.

The suspect died of his wounds on way to a hospital.

Both the army and police are investigating the exact circumstances of the event, which they are calling a "terror attack against civilians".

Soldiers are probing how he managed to evade the closely-monitored barrier.

Monday's incident came five days after the ceasefire deal ended an eight-day confrontation, in which Israeli aircraft struck some 1,500 militant targets throughout Gaza, with the latter firing about an equal number of rockets into Israel, some of which were aimed at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for the first time.