An Egyptian border guard was killed and several were wounded during a skirmish with Israeli forces at the Rafah Border Crossing in Gaza, Egyptian military spokesperson Col. Gharib Abdel Hafez said Monday.
Egypt’s state-owned Al Qahera News cited an unnamed official who described the altercation as an exchange of gunfire “between Israeli forces and members of the Palestinian resistance, which led to shooting in several directions.”
Reuters disclosed that two sources said the deceased was manning a guard tower at the international crossing and was incensed when he saw an IDF armored vehicle transverse a boundary line in pursuit of several Hamas terrorists. The individual then opened fire, sparking the actions that led to his death.
However, some Israeli media outlets are reporting that, according to IDF sources, the exchange started when the soldier shot at combat engineers who were working on a recently discovered tunnel.
The Israeli military confirmed that “a shooting incident” did take place at the location and that “dialogue is taking place with the Egyptian side.”
Israel took control of the port-of-entry earlier this month as it launched an operation into Rafah for the purpose of eliminating the remaining Hamas units in the area.
The deployment in the Palestinian municipality came with considerable criticism from Cairo, which views the maneuvers as threatening their government’s stability.
Although conflict between the two countries is rare, in June 2023, an Egyptian police officer murdered three IDF soldiers when he illicitly entered the Jewish state.
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