Israeli army denies it has entered Gaza

Israel’s army has denied a Palestinian report that its forces had entered the southern Gaza Strip searching for smuggling tunnels.

Palestinian security officials said the Israeli forces operated close to the border, and there were no clashes reported.

However, the army said today that no troops were inside Gaza, where Israel has observed a truce with Palestinian factions for nearly three months.

Despite that truce, some Palestinian militants have continued launching rockets into Israel from Gaza and there have been sporadic shootings along the border fence.

Today, Palestinian militants detonated an explosive device near an Israeli patrol along the border fence, causing no casualties, the army said.

Israel has warned that militants are taking advantage of the truce to continue digging tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border, using them to smuggle weapons.

Last June, militants who tunnelled from Gaza into Israel attacked an army post, killing two Israeli soldiers and capturing a third.