Israel's military spokesman says intelligence services had reports of an impending attack from Egypt and therefore were ready to thwart it.

Masked gunmen killed 16 Egyptian soldiers at a checkpoint along the border with Gaza and Israel on Sunday, then burst through a security fence with cars commandeered from the troops to enter Israel.

Israeli military spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai said Monday that militants blew up one of the vehicles to enter Israel. But he said Israeli intelligence services had information about an impending infiltration and sent aircraft to strike a second car the militants had seized from the Egyptian forces.

Mordechai told Army Radio, "We were prepared for it, therefore there was a hit."

Like Egyptian officials, he blamed Islamist militants from Gaza and Egypt's lawless Sinai Peninsula.