GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian gunman in an exchange of fire along the Gaza-Israel border early on Monday, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said.

“A Palestinian gunman opened fire along the Gaza border. Soldiers arrived at the scene and exchanged fire with him. We identified a hit,” an army spokeswoman said.

The gunman was the third militant to be killed by Israeli forces in two days.

On Sunday, an army unit killed two members of the militant al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades during a raid in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. A third was arrested.

Palestinian sources initially said the two killed in Bethlehem were members of the security forces but they later confirmed the army’s account that they were militants.