Israel denied a German newspaper report today that two of its air force planes had fired twice as they flew over a German navy vessel patrolling the Lebanon coast.
Germany's Defence Ministry said an incident had occurred, without giving details.
The German daily Der Tagesspiegelquoted a German junior defence minister as telling a parliamentary committee two Israeli F-16 fighters had flown low over the ship, firing twice.
The jets also activated infra-red countermeasures to ward off any rocket attack, the paper quoted him as saying, in an advance release from tomorrow's edition.
"There was no such incident," an Israeli military spokeswoman said.
She said the German statements appeared to refer to an incident that took place yesterday. Jets were scrambled when a helicopter took off from a German aircraft carrier close to Israeli waters without identifying itself.
The planes realised the mistake, did not engage the helicopter and returned home, the spokeswoman said.
Germany assumed command of a United Nations naval force off Lebanon 10 days ago, and has sent eight ships and 1,000 service personnel to join the international peace operation in the region.
The naval force is charged with preventing weapons smuggling and helping maintain a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese Islamic militant group Hezbullah.