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JERUSALEM — IDF soldiers and Palestinian policemen in the Gaza Strip came close to opening fire on each other Thursday of last week during an illegal, massive pray-in by Muslims at Gush Katif.

The standoff occurred after soldiers shot and lightly wounded a Palestinian driver as he tried to run a nearby IDF roadblock.

One witness told reporters the driver had been shot by a soldier in a watchtower.

Tensions in the Gaza Strip flared after some 400 Palestinians converged on the Gush Katif junction and, in plain view of Palestinian forces, blocked the road.

"The IDF soldiers there immediately demanded that they stop their protest and open the junction and threatened to use force to disperse them if they did not obey," said Capt. Avi Gambash, spokesman for the Southern Command. The Palestinians saw that the soldiers were determined to carry out their threat and backed off, he said.

Channel 1 showed footage of both Palestinian and IDF personnel aiming weapons at each other and arguing during the protest. Gambash denied the IDF troops were close to shooting.

During the confrontation, a Palestinian driver ignored orders to halt and tried to run the IDF roadblock at Kfar Darom, about a kilometer away, Gambash said. Soldiers opened fire and hit a passenger in the leg. He was taken to a hospital, where his wound was described as light, Gambash said.

IDF soldiers have been put on high alert against attacks and suicide bombers. The roadblock at Kfar Darom is particularly sensitive, since it has been the scene of a suicide bombing.