Egypt’s military said on Monday that a border policeman was killed in a shooting attack in the Rafah border domain with Gaza, where Israeli forces are deployed, adding that an investigation had been opened.
“The Egyptian Armed Forces, through the relevant authorities, are investigating a shooting attack in the Rafah border area that resulted in the martyrdom of a guard,” an army said.
The IDF reported a “shooting incident” at the Egyptian border and said they were discussing the incident with Egypt.
Since May 7, Israeli forces have been operating in Rafah, a town at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt.
Al-Qahera News, which has ties to Egyptian intelligence, quoted a defense official as saying that an initial investigation into the shooting indicated that Israeli troops and Palestinian militants exchanged fire, “prompting gunfire in several directions. “
“The Egyptian security staff was taking protective measures and dealing with the source of the fire,” the official added.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, Egypt has been willing to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians and their ties with Israel.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but since then their relations have been dubbed “cold peace. “
Cairo fears the internal repercussions of the war and tensions have risen since Israeli forces seized the Rafah border crossing, a key access point for humanitarian aid.
The official quoted via Al-Qahera said that “Egypt has warned about the repercussions of Israeli army operations” along the Gaza-Egypt border, warning of “conditions that are difficult to address and will likely worsen. “
A day after the war began in October, a policeman in Alexandria, Egypt’s second-largest city, opened fire on an Israeli tourist organization, killing two Israeli tourists and their Egyptian guide.
In an earlier shootout, in June 2023, Israel said an Egyptian policeman crossed the border and killed three Israelis before being shot dead.
The Egyptian military said at the time that the three Israelis were killed in an exchange of fire by a member of the Egyptian security forces who had crossed the border “in pursuit of drug traffickers. “