Not drug smuggling: Egyptian military source refutes official narratives on Egypt-Israel border clash

An Egyptian high-profile military source has refuted the official narrative regarding a reported clash that took place on Monday evening, 15 January, across the border with Israel, saying that it was not a drug smuggling attempt, but rather it was an attempted infiltration by militants to support Gaza. 

Egypt's armed forces said in an official statement released in the early hours of Tuesday that "Egyptian security forces exchanged fire with drug smugglers on Al-Awja border crossing with Israel, foiling an attempt to traffic 174 kilograms of different types of narcotics south of Al-Awja border crossing with Israel."

One person was injured while six alleged smugglers were detained in the process, the statement read.

The Egyptian narrative, however, did not specify the identity of the wounded soldier or the alleged smugglers.

Known in Israel as "Nitzana", the Awja border crossing is located about 40 kilometres south of Rafah, the main point of aid delivery to distressed Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, currently under Israeli brutal onslaught for the fourth consecutive month.

Awja currently functions as an inspection point for trucks carrying aide supplies towards Gaza via Egypt.

Israel's military, meanwhile, was cited by The Times of Israel as saying that "one female Israeli soldier was slightly wounded in a firefight with apparent drug smugglers along the Egyptian border."

According to the Israeli narrative, around 20 suspects, some of them armed, arrived at the Nitzana area in an apparent attempt to smuggle narcotics into Israel.

However, an unofficial account of events has contradicted both official narratives.

"An unidentified group of 20 militants, who were apparently on their way to infiltrate Palestine through Awja, engaged with Egyptian and Israeli forces on the border, seriously injuring three Israeli soldiers," a military source told The New Arab on condition of anonymity, for not being authorised to talk to the media.

The source added, "Egypt detained a total of six, while 14 others managed to flee the scene."

"The Egyptian authorities have been interrogating the six detainees since then," the source said, ruling out that Egypt would hand them into Israel.

The affiliation of the six gunmen remains unclear till the time of publication. 

The military source further said that "the fighters took the same route that late Egyptian conscript Mohamed Salah, killed in a similar firefight last June in the same area."

Salah, a security force member serving along the Egyptian border with Israel, is believed to be involved in killing three Israeli soldiers after he had entered Israel's territories and was killed during an exchange of fire.

Egypt and Israel are believed to have been at odds after the Egyptian government rejected an Israeli demand to be given control over "a smart border" between Gaza and Egypt, known as "the Philadelphia Axis."

Egypt and Israel have technically been at peace since the late 1970s, sharing solid diplomatic, economic, and security ties– despite widespread opposition from the Egyptian public.