Gaza – Ma'an – A Palestinian man was killed and another injured on Thursday when Israel's navy shelled a fishing boat just off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip, medical officials told Ma'an.

However an Israeli military spokesman denied the navy had anything to do with the incident. He said naval forces did not fire on the boat, nor otherwise cause the death of a man onboard.

But earlier Thursday Dr Mu'awiyah Hassanein, the director of emergency and ambulance services at Gaza's Health Ministry, said Israeli shells killed 25-year-old Muhammad Nady Al-Attar when his head was severed from his body.

One other fisherman was injured in the incident, which reportedly occurred while the two were fishing.

Al-Attar was buried later on Thursday after a funeral procession in his home town of Beit Lahiya.