Armed Palestinians are seen giving a press conference to mark the second anniversary of Israel's three-week offensive on the Gaza Strip in which over 1000 people were killed, in Jabalia refugee camp, in the north of Gaza on. -AFP Photo

GAZA CITY: Israeli gunfire and tank shelling killed a Palestinian militant and wounded five other people east of Khan Yunis in Gaza on Tuesday, a Palestinian medical source and witnesses told AFP.

Adham Abu Selmiya, a spokesman for the Hamas-run medical services in Gaza, and hospital officials named the dead man as 22-year-old Hassan Abu Rok Qadeeh.

Witnesses told AFP Qadeeh was a member of the Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of Palestinian factions that has claimed responsibility for a barrage of mortar fire into Israel in recent weeks.

The group released a statement hailing his “martyrdom” in “Zionist shelling east of Khan Yunis.”

A Israeli army spokeswoman said “our soldiers, with air support, opened fire on members of a terrorist cell that was trying to place an explosive device near the security barrier” separating Gaza from Israel.

Tensions have been rising on Gaza's border with Israel over continued rocket fire into the Jewish state and retaliatory and often deadly Israeli air raids.