Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon called reports that Israel struck a terrorist target in Sinai “rumors and speculations” but did not deny them outright.

“We will not allow rumors and speculations, like the ones that developed in the last 24 hours, to hurt the peace treaty” between Israel and Egypt, he said, as Al Qaeda affiliated terrorists said an Israeli drone fired the missile that killed four of its members Friday.

“The state of Israel respects Egypt’s full sovereignty,” he added. It is “aware of heightened activity by the Egyptian army in the recent period, including this weekend, against the terror infrastructure in the Sinai peninsula, and appreciates it, since [the Egyptian military] is fighting, first and foremost, to protect the citizens of Egypt and Egyptian sovereignty.”

A senior Egyptian military officer told German news agency DPA that it was the Egyptian air force that struck the terrorists as they were about to fire a missile. He said that an Egyptian Apache helicopter carried out the strike and added that the missiles had not been aimed at Israel, but at Egypt, and that three missiles that had been prepared for firing at Egypt were found at the site attacked.