Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian youth and arrested two others as the men tried to enter Israel in search of work.
Palestinian security officials in Gaza said the Israelis had informed them of the incident and that the three had apparently been manual labourers trying to slip into Israel to find work.
After recovering the body, Palestinian officials said the dead person was unarmed and appeared to be a teenager, although he carried no documentation confirming his age.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said that before dawn, troops spotted three crouching figures near the dividing fence and when they ignored orders to halt and disregarded warning shots the soldiers fired at one of the group.