The Egyptian foreign ministry has denied reports that Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stated that the killing of Palestinian children by Israel did not amount to terrorism.

According to reports in Arab media outlets Monday, Shoukry was asked during a meeting with high school students at the foreign ministry if Israeli policies amounted to terrorism.

“You can look at the question from the perspective of a regime of force, but looked at from a more traditional understanding there is no evidence showing a link between Israel and armed terrorist groups,” Shoukry reportedly said.

According to a statement by the foreign ministry in Cairo, Shoukry never spoke about the killing of Palestinian children, and his comments were distorted by critics of his government. The statement said he was not asked about the killing of innocent children, but about why the international community does not call Israeli actions terrorism.

His response, the statement said, was that there was no international consensus regarding the legal definition of the term.

In his meeting with the students, Shoukry also said Israel’s strong concerns regarding its security can be understood given its history.

“Certainly Israel has, in accordance with its own history, a society in which the security element is very strong,” he said. “From Israel’s perspective, since 1948, that society has faced many challenges that have instilled in it its national security doctrine, its control of land and border crossings.”

In July, the Egyptian Foreign Minister paid a rare visit to Israel to promote Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi’s proposal to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

According to a Channel 2 report at the time, Shoukry’s surprise visit was also aimed at arranging a first meeting between Sissi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coming months.