GAZA, April 1 (Reuters) - Two Palestinian militants were killed on Tuesday by Israeli special forces during a predawn raid in the central Gaza Strip, Hamas Islamists and medical officials said.

Hamas said the two militants were the first from the Islamist group to be killed by the Jewish state in nearly a month.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops shot the two Palestinian militants as the army conducted a ground assault against what she called "terror infrastructure" in the Hamas-controlled territory.

The violence could challenge Egyptian-mediated efforts to broker a truce between the Jewish state and militant groups. Hamas has not claimed any cross-border rocket fire into Israeli towns since the beginning of March.

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