Palestinian demonstrators riot on the Israel-Gaza Strip border, May 3, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa.

Israeli forces opened fire at a group of Palestinian infiltrators as they tried to cross the Gaza border, the military said on Sunday. Palestinian health officials said three of the men were killed.

“A short while ago, IDF (Israel Defense Forces) troops spotted a number of armed suspects adjacent to the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip. An IDF attack helicopter and a tank fired toward them,” the military said in a statement.

Palestinian medics said they retrieved three bodies from the site and Gaza hospital officials said a fourth man was injured.

The incident happened overnight between Saturday and Sunday, shortly after three rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, one of them landing in a town near the border, according to the Israeli military and police.

There was no immediate comment from any of the major terrorist groups in Gaza. No Israelis were hurt.

Gaza is ruled by the Islamist terrorist group Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel over the past decade.

Hamas has publicly stated that the purpose of the ongoing border riots is to breach the border fence and murder Israelis living in the area.