Egyptian policeman, three Israeli soldiers killed in firing on Israel-Egypt border

Jerusalem: Three Israeli soldiers and a member of Egyptian security forces were killed in a shootout along the border between Israel and Egypt. This has been confirmed in the military statements of both the countries. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Saturday that the attacker who killed the three soldiers was an Egyptian policeman. He first killed two soldiers, a man and a woman, who were on duty at a border post and killed a third hours later during a search operation. Another Israeli soldier was lightly wounded and the Egyptian gunman was eliminated by troops, the statement said.

Three Israeli soldiers and a member of Egyptian security forces were killed in a shootout on Saturday with Egyptian security personnel chasing drug smugglers near the Israeli border, Xinhua news agency reported. . Army spokesman Gharib Abdel-Hafiz said in a statement that “a member of the Egyptian security forces was killed” and two other Israeli soldiers were wounded in the encounter. Both the armies said that the incident is being investigated. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said on Twitter that he had assessed the situation with other defense officials.

He added that the IDF would “investigate the incident as necessary”. Such confrontations are rare along the Israel-Egypt border as the two countries have maintained close security ties under a peace accord signed by both sides in 1979. The Israeli military frequently conducts search and arrest operations along the shared border to prevent drug and arms trafficking. Israel completed construction of a 242-kilometer barrier along its shared border with Egypt in 2014 in an effort to prevent illegal labor migration from African countries to Israel.