GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA): At least two Palestinians were killed on Thursday by an airstrike carried out on Egypt’s border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

In a statement, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said two Palestinian residents of the border area — Hossam al-Sufi, 24, and Mohamed Anwar al-Aqra, 38 — had been killed in the raid while five others were injured.

Local eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that the strike, which targeted a cross-border tunnel, in Rafah, had been carried out by warplanes.

In an SMS message issued shortly afterward, the Israeli military denied any involvement, saying it had “no information regarding Israeli airstrikes in Gaza”.

Although the Israeli army denied any relation to the bombings, eyewitnesses confirmed seeing the Israeli war jets firing missiles into the border area, before retreating.

In a related development, the Israeli military announced late Wednesday that it had intercepted three rockets fired from Egyptian territory towards Israel’s southern city of Eilat.

A fourth rocket, the army asserted, had fallen to earth in an “open area” the exact location of which it did not specify.

On Tuesday evening, the navy opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats, close to the shore in Rafah and Khan Younis, in the southern part of the besieged Gaza Strip.

On Tuesday morning, the navy fired several live rounds at Palestinian fishing boats, in Gaza territorial waters, close to the shore in the northern part of the coastal region

Additional reporting by The Muslim News

[Photo: Palestinian family mourn after the death of Muhammed Enver el-Akra (38), who was killed by Israeli forces Funeral ceremony in Rafah, Gaza on February 09, 2017. His dead body was brought from the Abu Yusuf Necar Hospital’s morgue to his home in Sheikh Ridvan district of Gaza. Photographer: Muhabiri Ali Jadallah/AA]