Israeli army gives green light to fire at any 'suspicious' Egyptian soldier following border shooting
Israeli army gives green light to fire at any 'suspicious' Egyptian soldier following border shooting
Israeli soldiers have been given stricter instructions on how to deal with possible "threats" along the Egyptian border.
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The border between Egypt and Israel stretches 206 kilometres [Getty/archive]
The Israeli army has issued new, stricter instructions to its members serving at the border with Egypt to fire at any Egyptian soldier behaving suspiciously following this month’s deadly shooting which left three Israeli troops killed.
Israeli Army Radio said the military issued new instructions to its soldiers regarding on how to act in the event of any suspicious events occurring in the border area.
The new instructions prohibit Israeli soldiers from approaching the border fence and orders them to maintain a distance and not advance without the approval of the sector commander.
It obliges them to deal with any "abnormal movement or behaviour" by an Egyptian soldier as a possible threat, with readiness to open fire.
The Israeli soldiers are required to always wear headgear and to immediately report any suspicious movement to command.
Army Radio said the military was now viewing Egyptian security forces as a potential threat after being "partners" before the 3 June border shooting.
What inspired Mohamed Salah’s actions on Saturday – to cross into Israel and fatally shoot at the Israeli army – was conditioned by a political reality that the Egyptian regime is terrified to acknowledge 👇 https://t.co/hMm3UY4mzq
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) June 9, 2023
It added that the Israeli army is scheduled to issue on Tuesday its final report on the investigations into the border shooting, carried out by 22-year-old conscript Mohammed Salah Ibrahim.
An Israeli military delegation visited Cairo at the weekend to continue joint investigations with their Egyptian counterparts.
Egypt has been largely quiet on the matter and has tried to minimize backlash, banning Ibrahim's family from holding a public funeral in a bid to keep the issue low-profile
He has been celebrated by some in the Arab world as a hero and martyr.
Though usually quiet, the 206-kilometre Israeli-Egyptian frontier has witnessed a number of ambushes and rocket attacks in the past decade, with military personnel and militants in Northern Sinai killed.
But June’s shooting has worried Israel, shattering decades of calm between the once enemy nations who signed the unpopular Camp David peace treaty in 1979.
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