FACTBOX: Developments in Gaza fighting

(Reuters) - Following are developments in the fighting in the Gaza Strip as of 3:15 p.m. EST:

(* Denotes new or updated items)

* WEST BANK - An Israeli settler opened fire at Palestinian stone throwers near the West Bank city of Qalqiliya, killing a 15-year-old boy, Palestinian security officials said. An Israeli police spokesman said an investigation had been launched.

* GAZA - An Israeli air strike targeting a car in the southern Gaza town of Rafah killed a Palestinian civilian, medical workers said.

* GAZA - The Palestinian death toll in the offensive since December 27 reached 971, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said. The Health Minister of the Hamas-run government says close to 400 of those are women and children.

GAZA - An Israeli tank shell killed four Palestinian civilians in the southern Gaza Strip, medical workers said. Some 26 others were wounded.

HEBRON - Israeli troops near the West Bank city of Hebron shot a Palestinian who tried to steal a soldier's weapon, an army spokesman said. The man died of his wounds in hospital.

GAZA - Israeli forces killed five Palestinian fighters in the suburbs of the city of Gaza and another militant near the southern town of Khan Younis, medical workers said.

SOUTHERN ISRAEL - Palestinian militants fired at least 20 rockets and mortar bombs into southern Israel, the military said.

ISRAEL - Israel's death toll since the offensive began is 10 soldiers, while three civilians were killed in rocket and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip.

GAZA - Israeli planes bombed suspected weapons smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border, local residents said.

(Jerusalem Newsroom)