Egypt dismisses reports of border shooting with Israel

A high-level Egyptian security source has denied reports of shootings on the border with Israel late on Monday, amid escalating tension between the two countries as the war on the neighbouring Palestinian Gaza Strip approaches the one-year mark.

The source told Cairo-based Al-Qahera news satellite TV channel that the reported incident took place on Israel’s side of the Negev desert involving an exchange of fire between Israeli border guards and a group of smugglers.

The Negev desert (also spelt Naqab) borders Jordan to the east and Egypt's Sinai desert to the west.

The Egyptian source, who spoke anonymously, did not identify the nationality of the alleged smugglers.

Monday’s border incident was marred by conflicting reports. Several Israeli and pan-Arab news outlets reported unconfirmed news of a hit-and-run incident targeting Israeli soldiers that left several of them injured.

Pro-Palestine social media activists were quick to consider the alleged incident a "heroic act" as the hashtag "Egypt's border" has been trending since. 

The Jerusalem Post, however, reported, citing Israel's defence ministry as saying that Israeli troops on the border with Egypt had a "suspicious" vehicle speeding towards them and opened fire at the vehicle "under standard operational procedures".

The vehicle reportedly fled the scene after the soldiers shot at it, the report added, as the Israeli troops combed the area. 

Meanwhile, a local journalist, based in northeastern North Sinai province, bordering Israel and the besieged Gaza, told The New Arab that the alleged smugglers were "Egyptian Bedouin known for trafficking locally manufactured cigarettes of US brands to Israeli cities on the border".

"It is a thriving business earning them millions for the price of cigarettes in Egypt is far cheaper than Israel,” the reporter told TNA on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Several border incidents have broken out over the past months, including one that took place in June last year, when a 23-year-old Egyptian soldier was shot dead after he crossed the border with Israel and killed three Israeli troops.  

Despite a technical state of peace with Israel since the late 1970s, the Egyptian public has been at loggerheads with their country's successive regimes over normalisation.

Diplomatically and commercially, Cairo treated Israel as a friendly country with strong ties in several areas, but tensions have skyrocketed after Israel launched its onslaught on Gaza last October.