GAZA, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian man near the Karni border crossing between the Jewish state and the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, Palestinian medical officials said. It was not immediately clear whether the man was armed. An Israeli army spokeswoman said soldiers fired at three people as they approached the border area and identified hitting one. Israel began an offensive in the coastal strip in June soon after Palestinian militants from Gaza captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid. Nearly 400 Palestinians, about half of them militants, have been killed since the offensive began, say Palestinian hospital officials.
