Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is now holding regular talks with Abbas, and Israel scaled back its military activities in the West Bank. But clashes continue in Gaza, where troops regularly battle Palestinian militants firing rockets into Israel.

"Gaza creates a security threat for us, while the other part controlled by the new Palestinian government can create an opportunity," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Thursday during a visit to Sderot, a southern Israeli town regularly targeted by Palestinian rocket teams.

On Thursday, soldiers shot an unarmed 22-year-old Palestinian man along the Gaza-Israel border fence, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The army said troops spotted a man crawling near the fence past midnight and suspected he was planting a bomb. Soldiers opened fire after he ignored warning shots, the army said. Palestinian medical officials had no word on the condition of the shot man, who was hit on the Gaza side of the fence.

On Thursday night, an Israeli helicopter fired missiles at what the military said was a group of armed men moving near the disused Gaza airport, near the border with Egypt. Palestinian officials reported no casualties.

In continued Palestinian scuffling, Hamas arrested a doctor loyal to Fatah who reported that supplies at Gaza's largest hospital have been scarce since the group's takeover.

The Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas, accused Dr. Jomma Saka of lying, then fired him on grounds of corruption. He was accused, among other things, of stealing furniture from the hospital. Hamas denied the arrest was politically motivated.