(adds army denial) GAZA, May 2 (Reuters) - A Palestinian man was shot dead in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday in what Palestinian emergency workers described as a brief Israeli raid near the border fence. An Israeli army spokesman said troops in the area carried out a routine patrol but he denied shots had been fired at anybody. A top Palestinian Health Ministry official, Muawiyah Hassanein, identified the man killed as a 34-year-old civilian. Hassanein said he was shot by Israeli soldiers while he and his brother were collecting scrap metal near the former Israeli settlement of Elei Sinai, close to the border fence. Hassanein said the man's brother was seized by the Israeli forces. The army spokesman denied anybody had been arrested. Tensions have been running high in the Gaza Strip, particularly since Hamas's armed wing resumed rocket fire at Israel late last month.
