Israeli military shot dead a Palestinian woman in the Gaza Strip in an area near the border that Israel has declared a no-go zone for Palestinians, local hospital officials have said.

Gaza residents said it was not clear why 50-year-old Amna Qdaih, who they said suffered from a mental illness, was near the separation wall that runs between Israel and the Gaza Strip, Reuters news agency reported.

Asked about the report, an Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers identified a number of suspects in the area late on Friday and called on them to back away. After they did not, the soldiers fired at their legs and one was hit, she said.

Qdaih’s body was found and transferred to a hospital in Gaza early on Saturday.

Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza, agreed in 2012 to a ceasefire. The border has remained relatively quiet since the truce, though Israel occasionally strikes targeted areas in the strip.

(Al Jazeera and Agencies – wwww.aljazeera.com)