Two Israeli tourists and their Egyptian guide shot dead in Alexandria
People in Gaza city after an Israeli airstrikes early Sunday morning
Two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian national have been shot dead in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria by a police official, according to the news website Cairo24.
The attack reportedly took place at the Serapeum of Alexandria, an ancient Roman monument in the centre of the coastal city.
Cairo24, a news website with links to the Egyptian intelligence services, said a police officer working with the security service in the area fired random shots “from his personal weapon” at an Israeli tour group that was visiting the shrine.
“The police officer was immediately arrested and legal proceedings will be taken against him,” they said. One injured person was transferred to hospital for treatment.
The attack marks a further escalation in connection with events in Gaza, including a rare incursion by Palestinian militants into Israeli territories bordering the Gaza Strip and an ongoing exchange of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military on Israel’s northern border.
EgyptandIsraelsigned a peace treaty in 1979 and have forged far closer public relations in recent years, with the Israeli prime minister,Benjamin Netanyahu, pictured alongside the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in close talks on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in 2017. Egyptian officials, particularly the top intelligence official Abbas Kamel, have also assumed a leading role in mediating talks with Palestinian militant groups in an effort to cool relations in Gaza, despite Egypt closing its border with the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian government’s decision to increasingly and publicly display their warm relations with their Israeli counterparts has come in tandem with a clampdown on protests and free expression, curtailing protests in support of Palestinian rights that were previously considered an essential outlet for the sentiment on the Egyptian street.
