A member of Islamic Jihad's military wing was killed late Wednesday in an explosion west of Deir Al-Balah, medics said, in what militants described as an airstrike but Israel's army denied.

Al-Quds Brigades spokesman Abu Ahmad said an airstrike on a car west of Deir Al-Balah killed Remah Fayez Al-Husseni, 28, a member of the group from Shati refugee camp.

Abu Ahmad said Israel was trying to "incite the resistance" to respond.

But Israeli military officials denied any involvement in the militant's death.

"We had no operations in the Gaza Strip tonight," said Lt.-Col. Avital Leibovich, an army spokeswoman. An airstrike is "not the kind of thing you can hide," she added.

"This is not the first time we have seen an internal 'work incident' there."

Medics said Al-Husseni's body arrived at Al-Aqsa martyrs hospital after the blast.

Earlier, the military said a rocket exploded in an open area near a kibbutz in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council in the western Negev. There were no reports of injury or damage.

On Tuesday, a member of the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees died and three others were injured in an Israeli airstrike near Khan Younis, medics said.

The An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades said in a statement that Khaled Samhud, 23, the leader of the artillery unit in the brigades, died after an attack targeting members of the group.