A breached emergency gate at Israel's southern border with Egypt, which was only secured with plastic shackles; the passage of hours before the bodies of two Israeli soldiers were discovered; and the bungled pursuit of an infiltrator, which led to the death of a third Israeli soldier.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu termed the murder of three Israeli soldiers by an Egyptian security officer a terrorist attack and demanded a comprehensive joint investigation with Cairo.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu asks for Egypt's Help
Per The Strait Times, Egypt says it is collaborating with Israel to investigate the Saturday incident. On Sunday, additional details of the rare incident along the border surfaced.
There are frequent reports of drug smuggling, including one prior to the fatal violence, despite the fact that the border is typically tranquil due to the neighbours' close security cooperation.
Two Israeli soldiers were shot and killed early Saturday morning, according to the Israeli military, by a member of the Egyptian security services who had breached the border fence.
Their desert outpost was so remote that their bodies were not discovered for several hours.
During the subsequent exchange of gunfire, the Egyptian sentry and a third Israeli soldier were slain.
The Egyptian military reported on Saturday that three Israelis and an Egyptian security were slain in an exchange of gunfire as the guard pursued smugglers across the border. Two Egyptian sources reported that a team was examining the scene and the corpse of the guard to ascertain what transpired.
Egyptian Kills 3 Israeli Soldiers at Border
According to them, the Egyptian guard's coworkers and family members were questioned to determine whether he belonged to political groups or suffered from mental illness. The Egyptian army offered its "deepest condolences to the families of the deceased" and hinted that legal action would be taken against anyone else implicated.
Egypt was the first Arab nation to conclude a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. They share a frontier that is more than 200 kilometers long. Israeli officials and analysts emphasized that Saturday's events are unlikely to influence strategic relations between the two countries.
According to Lt. Col. Hecht, Israeli and Egyptian liaison officers are in constant contact and were communicating as the events unfolded. Gallant's office said on Saturday evening, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Zaki and thanked him for his "commitment and cooperation in the investigation of the incident."
Israeli and Egyptian authorities have coordinated closely along the border in recent years, especially since the emergence of an Islamic State affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula's extensive deserts. In 2015, the affiliate brought down a Russian passenger jet and has repeatedly attacked Egyptian security forces, as per NY Times.
Although the desolate, mountainous region has long been associated with drug smuggling, fatal security incidents along Israel's border with Egypt are much less frequent, with the last significant attack occurring more than a decade ago.
In August 2011, eight Israelis were murdered in an attack launched from the Egyptian side of the border near the Israeli resort city of Eilat. In that incident, militants opened fire on an Israeli vehicle on a border road before detonating a device minutes later next to an Israeli army patrol.
According to Reuters, the militants then launched an anti-tank missile at a private vehicle, resulting in the deaths of its occupants.
In the chaotic aftermath, Israeli forces murdered three of the assailants who had crossed into Israeli territory, as well as five Egyptian officers who were pursuing the attackers on the Egyptian side, bringing the two countries to the verge of a diplomatic crisis.
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