British diplomats have called for a full investigation into the fatal shooting of an award-winning journalist by Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah.
Mr James Miller (35), was hit in the back of the neck as he was filming a stand-up segment as part of a documentary he was making on the army's destruction of hundreds of homes of militants in the Palestinian territories.
An army spokesman expressed "regret" at the death, but pointed out that the man had "taken great risks by being in a virtual war zone."
After receiving first aid at an army post near where the shooting took place, Mr Miller was evacuated to the Soroka hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba by an army helicopter, military officials said.
They said Israeli soldiers were operating in the area to bust a weapons smuggling ring operating from Egypt to the Palestinian sector.
The Israeli troops were in a house close to the border, where they had found a tunnel exit, when they came under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.
After returning fire the soldiers searched the area and came across a woman waving a white flag and who pointed out the journalist lying wounded in the street.
He is the fourth journalist killed by Israeli troops since the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, broke out in September 2000.
AFP