The Israeli army, for its part, claimed that an Egyptian “assailant” had killed two soldiers in the morning “while they stood guard on the Israel-Egypt border.”
Three Israeli army soldiers and a member of the Egyptian security forces were killed this Saturday during a shootout on the border between the two countries, official sources reported. The Egyptian Army indicated that “a member of the security forces was chasing some drug dealers” and in doing so he crossed a checkpoint between both countries in the Negev desert.
From there there was “an exchange of fire with the Israeli security forces, which caused three deaths on the Israeli side”. The Egyptian was killed in that shootout, both sides said. The Israeli army, for its part, claimed that an Egyptian “assailant” had killed two soldiers in the morning “while they stood guard on the Israel-Egypt border.”
One of the soldiers killed in the first attack was a womanidentified by the Israeli army as Lia Ben Nun, 19 years old. The identity of the second deceased soldier was not provided. The attack sparked a manhunt that ended with the death of a third Israeli soldier, 20-year-old Ohad Dahan. A fourth soldier was slightly injured and was evacuated to the hospitaladded the armed body, quoted by the AFP news agency.
The border between Israel and Egypt it is often the scene of drug transfer attempts which in recent years have given rise to exchanges of fire between smugglers and Israeli soldiers positioned along the border. The Israeli Armed Forces indicated that an investigation is underway “in full collaboration” with the Egyptian Army.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahustated in a statement that it was a “serious and unusual” incident, and promised to conduct a “full” investigation. The Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, stressed the importance of cooperation and relations with Egypt.
Gallant had a telephone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed Zaki, in which he mentioned “the importance of relations between the two countries,” according to an Army spokesman. Zaki also referred to “joint coordination to take the necessary measures to avoid the repetition of such incidents in the future.” At the same time, a military spokesman said that the Israeli Army is investigating to find out how the Egyptian managed to cross the barrier several meters high deployed along the border between the two countries.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, after the signing of the Camp David agreements in 1978, but many Egyptians do not support this normalization between the two countries. Hours before the attack on the guard post, Israeli soldiers had thwarted a drug-trafficking operation on the border by seizing psmuggled goods worth $400,000according to the military spokesman.
Source: Ambito
