Gaza, March 11 (IANS): The armed wing of the Hamas movement that is in power in Gaza said Tuesday it has seized an Israeli drone that crashed near the Gaza-Israel border fence.

"The Israeli drone which fell inside Gaza is in the hands of our militants," an official from the Izz al-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, told Xinhua.

According to the official, the Israeli drone fell 500 metres away from the fence near the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, Tuesday.

Earlier, the Israeli army said a Skylark drone fell in the southern Gaza Strip due to technical malfunction, adding that an investigation was under way.

The incident came a few hours before an Israeli army drone killed three Islamic Jihad militants near Rafah City.

The Islamic Jihad Movement said the militants were killed during clashes with Israeli soldiers who moved into Rafah City.

However, the Israeli army said the strike targeted militants who fired mortars at Israeli forces near the border fence.