GAZA CITY — Nine people were killed amid air raids in the Gaza Strip on Monday, local authorities said, but it was not clear whether the fatalities were caused by Israeli strikes.

 

Israel has confirmed it was bombing Hamas targets in Gaza in response to earlier rocket fire directed towards Israel.

 

The rockets were fired shortly after a 6:00pm (1500 GMT) deadline issued by Gaza's Islamist movement Hamas for Israel to withdraw its forces from the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound after clashes.

 

But Israeli occupation forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said he could "neither confirm nor deny" that its strikes caused the fatalities, adding it may have been an "internal matter," in a possible reference to misfired rocket from inside the strip.