Three Israeli soldiers were shot and killed Saturday, June 3, near the Israeli-Egyptian border. Shortly after announcing the first two deaths within its ranks, the army reported that "one soldier was killed in a firefight with an assailant in Israeli territory". An army spokesman said the exchange of fire occurred as soldiers stood guard at the Israeli-Egyptian border. A fourth Israeli soldier, a non-commissioned officer, was lightly injured and evacuated to a hospital.
The military also said soldiers shot dead an "assailant" on the Israel-Egypt border in the Negev desert. “During a confrontation with an assailant in Israeli territory (…), the soldiers responded with live fire and neutralized him,” an initial statement read. A military spokesman said the assailant had been shot. "Soldiers continue to search the area," he also said, without giving further details.
The Egyptian army reported that a "member of the security forces chasing drug traffickers" had crossed a checkpoint between the two countries. According to her, there followed an "exchange of fire with the Israeli security forces which left three dead on the Israeli side".
"An investigation is being carried out in full cooperation with the Egyptian army", specifies the Israeli army, which has also opened an investigation to try to clarify how the assailant managed to cross the barrier several meters high which runs along this border, according to a military spokesman. He added that gray areas remained on the two incidents and on the motivations of the assailant. Investigations are underway to determine whether other assailants managed to enter Israeli territory, he said.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. The border between the two countries is, however, the scene of recurring attempts to smuggle drugs, which have given rise, in recent years, to exchanges gunfire between smugglers and Israeli soldiers stationed along the border.
