Israeli tourists killed in random gunfire in Egypt

Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that two Israeli tourists were killed in a shooting attack in Egypt on Sunday.

Two Israeli citizens and their local Egyptian guide were killed when they were on a tourist group tour in Egypt’s northern province of Alexandria when local security personnel opened fire on them, the ministry said in a statement. Another Israeli sustained moderate injury.

The ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Cairo were working to return the deceased and the rest of the group to Israel “as soon as possible,” the statement read.

According to Egypt’s AlQahera News TV channel, two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian were killed in Alexandria on Sunday as random gunfire by an Egyptian policeman hit an Israeli tourist group visiting the city.

“The policeman was immediately arrested and legal procedures against him have been initiated, while an injured Egyptian was taken to hospital for treatment,” the report quoted a security source as saying.

The incident came a day after a massive deadly conflict took place between the Palestinians and the Israelis in the Gaza Strip that left heavy casualties on both sides.

On Saturday, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which controls Gaza, showered Israel with thousands of rockets in a rare surprise attack that was responded with massive Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and punitive measures, including power outages.

According to statistics issued by the Gaza-based Health Ministry, at least 313 Palestinians were killed and 1,990 wounded by the Israeli strikes in Gaza.

On the other hand, at least 300 Israelis were killed and more than 1,800 injured during the Hamas attack that also included infiltrating ground assaults onto southern Israel, data released by the Israeli Health Ministry showed.

Hamas also held some Israeli civilians and soldiers as hostages, as confirmed by Israeli officials.

Engaged in a peace treaty with Israel since 1979, Egypt has for years been a key regional peacemaker in the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.