An Israeli soldier was killed by friendly fire on the Gaza border.
The soldier, 20, was killed Jan. 8 by a mortar shell fired by Israeli troops on a group of armed Palestinians planting explosives designed to harm Israeli soldiers near the security fence with the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli military spokesman. Four other soldiers were injured in the exchange, in which the shell hit the Israeli forces investigating the Palestinian terrorists, according to the Israel Defense Forces spokesman.
Several hours after the friendly fire incident, three foreign workers from Thailand were injured by a mortar fired from Gaza on a kibbutz in southern Israel, one of three fired at the kibbutz and one of several fired from Gaza on Israel that day.
Later the same day, an Israeli truck driver was wounded by shrapnel and glass when a mortar fired from Gaza landed next to the truck he was driving.