A Palestinian militant was killed and four wounded during an Israeli airstrike in southeastern Gaza Strip late Tuesday, witnesses and medical sources said.

Doctors treat a wounded Palestinian at Nassir hospital after an Israeli air strike in the central Gaza Strip January 5, 2010. A Palestinian militant was killed and four wounded during an Israeli airstrike in southeastern Gaza Strip late Tuesday, witnesses and medical sources said. [Xinhua/Reuters Photo]

An Israeli drone fired a rocket on a group of militants that was monitoring the security fence separating between Israel and Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, killing one and wounding four, the witnesses said.

The fighters were apparently planning to fire a missile into the Israeli lands, added the witnesses.

The dead and the wounded were transferred to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis where officials identified the dead as Jihad al-Sumiri, a member of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), an armed faction close to Gaza's Hamas rulers.

The Israeli army stepped up its activities along the border with Gaza over the past weeks, targeting open spaces believed to contain tunnels leading to the electric fence.

The army spokespersons were not immediately available to comment on the raid.

Earlier Tuesday, Abu Obaida, the spokesman for Hamas' armed wing, denied any undeclared truce between his movement and Israel in Gaza. However, he added that Hamas has ceased rocket attacks on Israel "for a specific, temporary time in understanding with the other factions."

"There hasn't been any direct or indirect agreement with the Zionist enemy," he said.