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Relations between the two countries have been fairly good in recent years since a peace agreement was signed in 1979, and it has been a decade since the last Israeli death on the border.
Three Israeli soldiers were killed in a major incident on the Egyptian border on Saturday morning.
At around 8:30 am local time, the bodies of two soldiers, a man and a woman, were found; a third soldier, a man, was killed in an exchange of fire during the manhunt.
It happened inside Israel and is believed to have happened at close range. The dead gunman has been identified as an Egyptian policeman.
A few hours earlier, at around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, Israeli security services had foiled a major cross-border drug smuggling operation in the same area near Nizana.
About $400,000 worth of contraband was seized — it’s unclear if the two incidents are connected. Investigation is ongoing.
The bodies of Israeli soldiers were found at a guard post after the shooting at around 6 a.m. because they did not answer radio calls.
A gunman was identified, surrounded and killed – Israeli soldiers were also wounded in the operation.
Israeli military officials said they were “fully coordinating” with Egyptian authorities and that it was “on track and well.” There was no indication that the Egyptian military was involved.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conducted a security assessment with the IDF Chief of Staff, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been updated on the incident.
Although the two countries have fought wars in the past, relations between the two countries have been quite good in recent years since a peace agreement was signed in 1979. It has been a decade since the last Israeli death on the border.
Israel has built a massive border fence over the past decade to control immigration from Africa and prevent the infiltration of Islamic State militants.
Despite heightened security, smugglers often try to bring drugs, weapons and other illegal items into Israel — in one incident last year, a smuggler was shot and killed by Israeli troops.
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