GAZA CITY (AFP) — Two Palestinians were shot dead on Saturday by Israeli forces that fired on their vessel off the Gaza Strip coast, according to Palestinian medical sources.
The two were fishermen, according to a spokesman for Hamas, but Islamic Jihad said one of the dead men was a member of its group.
The Palestinians said the Israeli fire came from a naval patrol boat but the Israeli military later said the men had been killed when an Israeli aircraft opened fire on a boat near the border with Egypt.
Israel maintains close control on shipping on the coast off Gaza, up to 11 kilometres (seven miles) from shore, saying it is needed for security reasons.
Hours earlier, three people were wounded after an Israeli missile was fired in the northern Gaza Strip.
An army spokesman said the three were all armed and were approaching the fence separating Gaza and Israel.
This was disputed by a Palestinian medical official who said the missile had been fired at an apartment block and that the three were civilians.
The deaths bring to 5,895 the number of persons killed since the 2000 outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, most of them Palestinians, according to an AFP tally.
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