Sudan’s defense minister says an air raid in an eastern desert earlier this year, which Israel is suspected of carrying out, hit a people-smuggling convoy and killed 119 people.

The twin attacks in January and February near the border between Sudan and Egypt are still under investigation, official media quoted Abdel Rahim Muhammad Hussein as telling the parliament.

He added that the convoy may have been carrying almost 1,000 people, including Ethiopian and Somali nationals.

More than half of the air strikes’ victims (63 people) were civilians seeking emigration, state Suna news agency reported Monday.

Israel is suspected of carrying out the attack during its deadly offensive against the Gaza Strip earlier this year, but has avoided an explicit denial or confirmation of involvement.

Tel Aviv has instead pointed an accusatory finger at nations sympathetic toward the people of Gaza, including non-neighbor Sudan, for allegedly allowing arms to be smuggled into the blockaded region.

Sudanese officials confirmed news of the attack and suspicions of an Israeli involvement in March. Western reports suggested a military convoy had been hit while Israel argued a right to ‘fight terrorism’ recognized no boundaries.

“That was true in the north … and it was true in the south … Those who need to know, know there is no place where Israel cannot operate,” then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said during a speech in Herzliya.

The BBC said the comments were a clear hint to confirm the Sudanese suspicions.

“We operate in many places near and far, and carry out strikes in a manner that strengthens our deterrence,” Olmert added.

Relentless Israeli air raids on the impoverished Palestinian enclave were aimed at toppling the elected Hamas government in Gaza. The attacks killed nearly 1,350 civilians and wounded another 5,450 Palestinians.

The Times of London, quoted an Israeli source in March as saying the attack was carried out with the assistance of US intelligence.

Eitan Ben Eliyahu, a former Israeli air force chief, also told the Israeli army radio that the “essential elements” of reported raid “was the strengthening of co-operation, particularly with the United States, to prevent arms smuggling to Hamas.”

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