Gaza, ALRAY - A Palestinian woman has been found dead after hours of being shot by Israeli forces near the fence east of the border Khan Younis town of Abasan, southern the Gaza Strip.

Spokesman for Health Ministry Ashraf al-Qedra told ALRAY that the ambulances transferred the body of A’mna Qudaih, 58, to the Khan Younsis Nassir Medical Complex.

On Friday evening, Israeli forces fired at Qudaih, who approached the border fence unconsciously having suffered mental disorders, according to her family.

Medical crews tried to locate the body of Qudaih immediately after the incident but failed due to the nightfall and the danger of the buffer zone. 

The Israeli intense firing towards the Palestinian woman coincided with launching flare bombs on the area, said ALRAY correspondent in an earlier report.

Eight have been killed, and some 38 injured in separate border shootings and airstrikes since late December 2013, according to Ministry of Health figures.

Most of the casualties sustained injuries in Israeli border gunfire during popular Friday protests of the buffer zone which is between 500 and 1500 meters into the Strip.