JERUSALEM (Associated Press) -- Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man along the Gaza Strip border early Friday, both sides said, but the circumstances of the incident were unclear.
The Israeli military said soldiers opened fire at a group of five men who "appeared to be planting explosive devices" along the tense frontier. One man was killed, another was taken for medical treatment in Israel and three others were taken to Israel for questioning, the military said.
But it could not confirm the men were armed and said an investigation was under way.
A Palestinian official at Gaza's central Shuhada al-Aqsa hospital said troops fired on a group of four civilian men who were bird hunting. One was slightly wounded and taken to the hospital, and the other three were taken into Israel by Israeli troops, he said.
The military later returned the body of one of the men to the hospital, he added. The official did not identify the deceased, describing the body as that of a man his 20s.
The hospital official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. By mid-afternoon, none of Gaza's militant groups had claimed the dead man as its member.
Young Gazans often hunt birds in the late fall with nets and traps.
Gaza has been largely quiet since Israel's offensive against Hamas early this year, but there has been sporadic violence along the border.