Israel's claim that Islamic State fighters have entered the Gaza strip for training exercises was a lie used to justify their siege, a spokesman for Hamas has claimed.

It comes as a senior Israeli general said in an interview last Friday with a Saudi newspaper that several Isil operatives entered the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave through underground tunnels from Egypt.

Their plan was to carry out military exercises in the territory, Haaretz daily reported.

The operation was coordinated with the support of a Hamas affiliate in the city of Rafah, positioned on the Gaza-Egypt border, Israel’s coordinator of government activities in the occupied territories, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai said, adding that Hamas also allowed Isil militants to access medical services.

In response, Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri denied the claims.

In a statement issued on Saturday, he classified Mr Mordechai’s comments as “incitement,” saying that they aimed to justify the “ongoing siege” on Gaza and any potential future “aggression” on the territory.

In a speech broadcast over the weekend, Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas’s political bureau said that "the struggle against the occupation is a legitimate right and duty of nationalist and religious, a strategic way to liberate Palestine."