The Israeli military said Thursday that soldiers on border with Gaza opened fire at several Palestinians who entered a closed security zone and began sabotaging the border fence, but it could not confirm reports that one Palestinian was killed in the confrontation.

Palestinian medical officials said Israeli troops opened fire at a group of workers while they were collecting gravel near the border fence, killing a civilian and wounding another. Ibrahim Suleiman Mansour, 26, who resided in the Sajaiyeh neighborhood in eastern Gaza city, was shot dead, and another man, 21, was moderately injured, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.

However, an Israeli military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said that soldiers dispatched to the scene initially urged the Palestinians who began sabotaging the border fence to disperse, and then fired warning shots in the air.

She added that they fired at the legs of the main instigator after their calls went unheeded, hitting one or two suspects.

But she could not confirm that a man was killed, she said, adding that the Palestinians evacuated the area on their own.