Hamas said its member Mahmoud al-Adham was shot by Israeli forces in the northern town of Beit Hanoun.

A Palestinian man who was shot by Israeli forces on Thursday has died from his wounds, Palestinian media has reported.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 28-year-old Mahmoud al-Adham was shot by the Israeli army at the fence east of the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

Al-Adham died hours later at the Indonesian Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya from gunshot wounds.

In a statement, the Hamas movement claimed al-Adham as its member, saying that it would not let the death go “unpunished” and that Israel “would bear the consequences of this criminal act.”

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed forces fired on two “armed suspects approaching the fence in the northern Gaza Strip.”

Hamas’s armed wing has observation points close to the border fence.

At least 295 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since weekly popular protests known as the Great March of Return began along the Israeli fence in March 2018.

Most were killed during the protests but others were killed by air attacks or tank fire.

In the same time period, six Israelis have been killed.

Some two million Palestinians live in Gaza, whose economy has suffered under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade, as well as recent foreign aid cuts and sanctions by the Palestinian Authority, Hamas’s rival in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel says its blockade is necessary to stop arms reaching Hamas. It has launched three offensives against the group since Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007.

The latest escalation in the coastal enclave took place in May, when Israeli raids killed at least 25 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, Gaza health authorities said.

Projectiles fired from Gaza killed four civilians in Israel.

A truce mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations ended that round of violence.