An Egyptian and an Israeli were killed on Tuesday, and a third person was wounded in a gunfire battle between an Israeli border patrol and a number of human traffickers at mark 23 on the border between Egypt and Israel, south of the Rafah crossing.
The incident occurred shortly before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Israeli border with Egypt on Tuesday, during which he inspected the progress of construction on the border wall which he said would be complete late this year, according to the Israeli newspaper Maariv.
Eyewitnesses told Al-Masry Al-Youm that one of deceased is an Israeli-Arab, while the other is an Egyptian. The eyewitness did not identify the nationality of the injured person.
Meanwhile, an Egyptian security source who requested anonymity said the gunfire exchange took place while the human traffickers were attempting to smuggle 15 African nationals across the border.
The source denied the involvement of any Egyptian border patrols in the incident, saying the multinational forces in charge of controlling the distribution of Egyptian and Israeli forces on both sides of the border had not received any complaints from either side concerning any border violations.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
