Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man who was driving his pregnant neighbour to hospital today while the army was carrying out a night-time raid in the Gaza Strip, medics said.
An Israeli army spokesman denied shooting the man but said troops fired warning shots as the car sped towards them in what the soldiers, on an operation to detain wanted militants, thought was an imminent attack and the vehicle crashed.
The head of Beit Lahiya hospital in the northern Gaza Strip said the driver, Ala Hassouna, was killed by a bullet to the eye. Witnesses said the car did not crash.
"Israeli forces fired directly at the car, killing the driver and wounding two passengers. The pregnant woman survived through a miracle," the hospital official said, basing his remarks on the survivors' accounts.
Hanan Ahmed Al-Beshawi (27) later gave birth to a healthy boy, the hospital said.