JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said Saturday it had ‘intercepted a small aircraft over the Gaza Strip’, where witnesses told AFP they heard ‘explosions’ near the border.

The army stressed it was not rocket or other fire that posed a threat to Israelis. “It was not a projectile launch. Full routine continues on the Israeli home front,” it said in a statement.

The army didn’t say where the aircraft had been heading or where it had come from. Nor was there any immediate claim of responsibility from any of the armed Palestinian factions.

Earlier on Saturday, the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad group said its leader Ziad al-Nakhala had travelled to Cairo to meet Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

It said the two sides discussed ‘the situation in Jerusalem, and the West Bank, especially Jenin,’ a flashpoint city and refugee camp, where Israel last month conducted its deadliest single operation in the West Bank in years, killing 10 people.

On Thursday, Israel conducted air strikes on the Gaza Strip, hours after intercepting a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory.

Since the start of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 36 Palestinians, including attackers, militants and civilians.