A Palestinian was critically wounded on Friday by the shrapnel of an Israeli artillery shell fired at an area east of the central Gaza Strip al-Buriej refugee camp, witnesses and medics said.

The witnesses said that an Israeli army tank stationed at the borderline between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel fired on Friday a shell at the area and seriously wounded one Palestinian.

Ashraf al-Qedra, Hamas-run ministry of health spokesman, told reporters that the wounded Palestinian was taken by an ambulance to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.

Meanwhile, Israeli Radio reported on Friday that an Israeli army force opened fire on Friday at a Palestinian suspect who was planning to place a roadside bomb near the fence of the borders.

Israel had built up into the Gaza Strip a 300-meter security no- go zone area along the borderline between the Gaza Strip and Israel, where soldiers immediately open fire at anyone that approaches the area.

Israel had also imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip in June 2007 right after Islamic Hamas movement had violently seized control of the coastal enclave and kept its control on all the crossing points with the enclave.

According to official figures, Israel had in October killed 15 Palestinians, most of them were militants in a new tit-for-tat wave of violence between the Israeli army and Gaza militants.