Two Palestinian civilians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike near a mosque in the Shejaiya district of Gaza City, the Palestinian WAFA news agency reported on Friday.
The Israeli military said shortly afterwards that a group of militants had tried to plant an explosive device near an Israeli military position. The Israeli Air Force had bombed the militants to eliminate the threat to Israeli troops, the military said.
The information from both sides could not be independently verified.
A ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has been in place since January 19, but the first phase of the ceasefire deal ended on Saturday.
Indirect negotiations on the details of the second phase have not yet begun and it is therefore unclear how long both sides will continue to respect the ceasefire.
Mosque blaze in Nablus
Israel on Friday said its forces did not set ablaze a mosque in Nablus in the West Bank.
The military does not know the cause of the fire in the al-Nasr mosque, the Israeli army said in response to an enquiry.
At the same time, it said it was checking reports that Israeli soldiers had destroyed parts of other mosques in the city in the north of the West Bank.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry in Ramallah had earlier strongly criticized the alleged invasion of eight mosques in Nablus by Israeli troops.
According to the allegations, the Israeli forces destroyed parts of the places of worship and burned down large parts of the al-Nasr mosque.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA also reported that Israeli troops had detained three Palestinians in several neighbourhoods of the city of Nablus during the operation.
