Israeli soldiers have shot and killed two Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip as they approached the border fence, a Palestinian group has said.

 

An Israeli army spokeswoman said soldiers had opened fire on two men near the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Saturday.

"They were planting an explosive device near the fence," she said.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an arm of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, confirmed two of its fighters were killed while trying to fire mortars into Israel.