CAIRO: According to an Egyptian monitoring station in the Sinai Peninsula, Israel violated the 1979 Camp David Treaty when its soldiers entered Egyptian territory and fired upon Egyptian police and troops, killing five people, the state-run MENA news agency reported on Saturday. “The (Multinational Force and Observer) recorded two violations committed by Israel,” the agency said, citing an MFO report. “The international forces said in their report on the deaths of Egyptian security personnel that the violations were entering Egyptian territory and firing in the Egyptian side of the border,” the agency reported. The report added that the MFO statement did not confirm whether there were reasons for Israel's accusations that it was pursuing militants accused of attacking the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Thursday. At least 8 Israelis were killed in separate attacks on Thursday near the border when gunmen opened fire on buses and cars. Israel on Saturday said that it “regres” the deaths of Egyptian soldiers and policemen along the Gaza border in the Sinai peninsula. The statement from Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak came after the Egyptian government recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv over the violence, which has seen massive protests erupt at the Israeli Embassy in Egypt. Barak, however, did not confirm that Israeli troops had killed the five soldiers and policemen, but did say that there would be a joint inquiry into the incident with the Egyptian military. The statement came as Egyptians continued to protest at the embassy in Giza on Saturday. BM
