Israeli forces shoot dead 59-year-old Palestinian farmer in Gaza

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the farmer, identified as Mohammed Atta Abdel Mawla, 59, was shot five times by Israeli forces. He was rushed to hospital where his condition deteriorated and he died due to his wounds late afternoon.

A spokesperson for the Israeli army claimed Israeli soldiers shot at Abdel Mawla when he allegedly entered a “forbidden zone" near Gaza's border with Israel.

No further details were given by Tel Aviv.

Earlier this week Israeli forces killed a Palestinian after they opened fire on a boat from the Gaza Strip after it left a zone where Israel allows Palestinians to fish.

Mohammed Atta Abdel Mawla in hospital before succumbing to his wounds [Twitter]

A spokeswoman for the Israeli army said the boat "deviated from the designated fishing zone in the northern Gaza Strip."

Naval forces called on the boat to halt, then fired warning shots in the air before shooting toward it when the three people inside did not stop, the spokeswoman said.

Israel has maintained a crippling siege of the Gaza Strip for more than a decade which it says is necessary to isolate Hamas, with whom it has fought three wars with since 2008.

Nearly two million people live in Gaza and receive only four hours of electricity a day. Hospitals and other vital services rely on private generators provided by the United Nations, who warn Gaza hospitals are on the "verge of disaster" as fuel for emergency generators run out.

Human rights groups say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza's residents, with more than half of whom being under the age of 24.