An unexpected attack in broad daylight in the heart of Alexandria, Egypt. Two Israeli tourists who were visiting an ancient archaeological site in the Egyptian coastal city with their group were killed by shots fired at their bus, just hours after the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Israel and while there was a state of alarm and warnings to Israelis from possible attacks on them. According to information leaked to local media, it was a police officer who shot the tourist group in the area of the Aumd al-Sawari sanctuary in the El Manshiyya area. An Egyptian, a tour guide, also came under police fire and was subsequently arrested, while another injured Israeli was taken to hospital for treatment. The official Mena agency writes that the agent fired “blindly” and “with his personal weapon,” but the dynamics of the ambush and the motive are currently unclear. According to Egyptian Brigadier General Khaled Okasha, director of the Center for Strategic Studies and Reflections, the police officer who fired “may have perceived a threat to the lives of tourists present in the area” and “his security assessment may have been wrong” at the time. ”
Evidence of the dramatic situation in Alexandria this morning is a series of videos taken after the attacks, which show the two victims lying on the stone floor of the compound, another man lying injured on the stairs, and Egyptian officials dressed in white show them talking among themselves and no one receiving medical care, the Israeli press wrote. Israeli women from the tourist group can also be seen in the pictures desperately calling out to local officials: “Ambulance! Ambulance!”. Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel in 1979, but Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians make it unpopular with many Egyptians. In fact, the Haaretz newspaper reminds us that “in Egypt, anti-Israel sentiment is particularly strong in times of violence.” Last June, an Egyptian police recruit killed three Israeli soldiers near the border between the two countries. The version put forward from Cairo spoke of a firefight with soldiers while pursuing drug traffickers, but Israel said it was instead a terrorist attack. Israel’s National Security Council called on its compatriots to leave Egypt as soon as possible and to refrain from traveling to other countries and nations in the Middle East that already fly the flag. The US Embassy in Cairo urged its nationals to take precautions as the attack could be related to clashes between Israelis and Palestinian militiamen.
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