Libya on Monday denied claims from Cairo that Egyptian nationals were among those killed in a rocket attack on a house in Tripoli at the weekend.

Egypt's foreign ministry had said a rocket hit a house in the capital on Saturday, killing 23 people, including several Egyptians.

Egypt's army said Sunday it has destroyed 13 more tunnels connecting the Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip, taking to 1,639 the overall number it has laid waste to.

Egypt's prosecution on Saturday referred to trial 20 alleged militants from shadowy jihadist group Ajnad Misr, over several attacks in which six policemen and a civilian were killed.

Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt) is one of the main jihadist groups to have targeted the security forces since the army ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July last year.

Four children were killed on Saturday in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula when a mortar round hit their home, in an apparent attack by militants targeting soldiers, security officials said.

The attack took place in the northern Sinai town of El-Joura, believed to be a bastion of Islamist militants who have killed scores of police and soldiers over the past year.

Egypt warned Ankara Saturday of "further action" as it protested for the second time in a week at the Turkish premier criticizing its president and Cairo's handling of the Gaza conflict.

Ties have been strained since both withdrew their ambassadors last year after the military ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, who had forged closer ties with Turkey's devout Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Gunmen shot dead two senior police and army officers on Friday in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula where the military is battling an Islamist insurgency, security officials said.

Militants have stepped up their attacks, mostly against security forces, since the army ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi last July and the government launched a deadly crackdown on his supporters.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry huddled Friday with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and Egypt's foreign minister as pressure built for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Kerry, who spent another night in Cairo reaching out by telephone to regional officials, met Ban and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri for around half an hour.

Jailed Australian journalist Peter Greste will lodge an appeal against the conviction and seven-year sentence handed down by an Egyptian court, his family said Friday.

Greste and two Al-Jazeera colleagues -- Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian national Baher Mohamed -- were jailed last month for defaming Egypt and aiding banned Islamists.

Egypt said Thursday that foreign intelligence services were prime suspects in an attack last week that killed 22 soldiers near its border with restive Libya.

Unidentified militants firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns attacked a checkpoint in Egypt's western desert last Saturday.

U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos expressed deep concern Thursday about the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza, warning that it was "almost impossible" for Palestinians to shelter from Israeli airstrikes.