Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian militants today after spotting them approaching Israel's border fence with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, the military said.
An army spokesman said the troops entered the Gaza Strip to intercept the militants and killed them in clashes near the Kerem Shalom border crossing.
The militants were carrying explosive devices which they planned to plant along the border, said the spokesman.
The incident occurred three days after Israeli warplanes bombed targets in the Gaza Strip in response to a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory towards an Israeli town.
Cross-border violence has dropped since a Jan. 18 ceasefire went into effect after an Israeli military offensive in Gaza that was launched with the stated aim of halting cross-border rocket attacks.
The Islamist Hamas movement took control of Gaza after routing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces in June 2007.
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