The Israeli army imposed a total blockade late this evening on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, to be lifted on Friday after celebrations to mark independence of the Jewish state, a military spokesman said.
Meanwhile Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians today and the army said three mortar bombs had been fired at a Jewish settlement in the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip in a separate incident.
Palestinian police identified one of the dead men as Mr Youssef Abu Hamda, 40, a mentally disturbed resident of Shati refugee camp. His body was retrieved from a border area near Beit Hanoun, where Palestinians say they have yet to regain full control after a brief Israeli reoccupation last week.
The Israeli army said in a statement that soldiers saw a Palestinian cross the border fence between Israel and Gaza. They fired several warning shots but when the man continued to walk towards them, they shot and killed him.
The police said the Israeli army told the Palestinians it had killed a man and asked them to send an ambulance to retrieve the body, which had bullet wounds in the head and chest.
In a separate incident, medical officials said Israeli troops shot and killed Mr Iyad Dahsin Heresh, 27, during a clash with stone-throwing protesters near the West Bank town of Qalqilya. The army said it was looking into the report.
The army said there were no injuries from the mortar bombs fired at the Jewish settlement Gadid - the first such attack since last Thursday. Palestinian police said they had heard nothing about the incident.
Israel said today it was prepared to lift its blockade of a West Bank town of Jericho.