Archive for Israeli army

Israel in contact with Egypt over detained former soldier, peace activist

by admin
January 1st, 2013

Israel’s state radio said on Tuesday that the foreign ministry is making contact with Egyptian authorities to secure the release of an Israeli who has been detained in Egypt since Saturday.

An Egyptian state security official had said Monday that they had arrested a retired Israeli army sergeant near Taba in South Sinai after entering the country illegally. His mother and Israeli media have both claimed he is a civilian pro-Palestinian activist.

According to Egyptian state news agency MENA, the man was a Tel Aviv resident of Russian origin who was not carrying a passport, and his name had not been on tourist arrival lists. But Israeli media reported that Andrei Pshenichnikov, a known pro-Palestinian activist, had crossed into Egypt with the intention of entering the Gaza Strip, an area that is off limits to Israelis for security reasons.

His mother, Svetlana, told Israel Radio that he was in custody in Egypt and that he had intended to travel via Sinai to Cairo to rendezvous with friends from France.

"He received his visa [to visit Egypt] and went to Eilat, intending to cross into Egypt, tour the area and then go to Cairo, but Israeli police stopped him at the border and said he had tried to cross the border illegally … they held him for several days and they demanded he sign an undertaking not to go to Cairo, but he refused."

She added that her son was eventually released by Israeli authorities after his Israeli and Russian passports had been confiscated, but that later in the day he had called from Taba and said he had been detained there by Egyptian authorities.

"After he finished his army service … he supported [Palestinians] … He later rented an apartment in a refugee camp in Bethlehem to prove to the locals that there are Israelis who are in favor of peace," Svetlana added.

Egyptian security sources in Sinai said the detainee had been gathering information about Sinai from drivers in the area near the Taba border crossing between Egypt and Israel.

Egypt is trying to reassert control over Sinai, which has suffered from lax security since the uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

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Hamas calls on Egypt to halt Israeli truce violations

by admin
December 1st, 2012

Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip has called for Egyptian intervention to halt Israeli violations of the truce between them and Israel, according to Hamas Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Ghazi Hamad.

Hamad told reporters in Gaza on Saturday that "deterrant" measures should be taken against Israeli violations. He added that Egypt, as the official mediator of the truce agreement, should take a strong stance by reprimanding Israel.

Hamad also added that resistance factions are ready for any developments, and suggested that the truce violations were an expression of Israeli anger over being "defeated" during its recent assault on the coastal enclave.

Meanwhile, medical sources said that a Palestinian died of injuries suffered Friday after the Israeli Army shot him in the chest.

The man was the second person killed by Israel since the Egyptian-sponsored truce agreement 24 November to bring an end to combat that lasted for a week and killed 177 Palestinians and six Israelis.

Another 10 people were injured by the Israeli army on Friday near the border between Gaza and Israel.

According to sources from Hamas, the agreement stipulated removing a 300-meter deep security buffer zone at the border.

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Update: Egypt denies Eilat missile attack came from Sinai

by admin
August 16th, 2012

Israeli security forces have not found any trace of Grad rockets being fired at Eilat, after two explosions were heard in the southern resort city Wednesday evening, DPA has reported Israeli police as saying.

"The Israeli army began to comb the region, in the wake of the two blasts, to ascertain whether these two blasts resulted from a missile attack," said the website of Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

Israeli police said they have received numerous phone calls from residents saying they heard blasts in the city, according to Thursday's DPA story.

An Egyptian security source on Thursday denied Israeli media reports that the reported missiles came from Sinai. The source stressed that it would be impossible for a rocket to be fired, especially since the Armed Forces has now increased its presence at Sinai's border with the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Military and police forces have carried out security operations against alleged terrorist groups in Sinai over the last two weeks, following a militant attack near Rafah on 5 August that killed 16 Egyptian border guards and wounded a few others.

Two months ago, militants in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula fired two rockets at Eilat, though no one was reported injured.

Yedioth Ahronoth pointed out that nearly two months ago, the remains of a Grad rocket were found a few kilometers north of Eilat. Militant groups in Gaza often use Grad rockets when they attack Israel.

According to Israeli authorities, that missile firing was the first from Sinai since the fall of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

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Israeli police: No trace of Grad rockets fired at Eilat so far

by admin
August 16th, 2012

Israeli security forces have not found any trace of Grad rockets being fired at Eilat, after two explosions were heard in the southern resort city Wednesday evening, DPA has reported Israeli police as saying.

"The Israeli army began to comb the region, in the wake of the two blasts, to ascertain whether these two blasts resulted from a missile attack," said the website of Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

Israeli police said they have received numerous phone calls from residents saying they heard blasts in the city, according to Thursday's DPA story.

Yedioth Ahronoth pointed out that nearly two months ago, the remains of a Grad rocket were found a few kilometers north of Eilat. Militant groups in the Gaza Strip often use Grad rockets when they attack Israel.

Two months ago, militants in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula fired two rockets at Eilat, though no one was reported injured.

According to Israeli authorities, that bombing was the first from Sinai since the fall of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

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Israeli army: 5 assailants in Egypt-Israel border attack killed

by admin
August 6th, 2012

Five gunmen who killed 16 Egyptian guards near the border with Israel before crossing into the Jewish state in an armored vehicle have been killed, an Israeli army spokesperson said Monday.

"The bodies of the five gunmen have been found by the Israeli army," the spokesperson said a day after the incident, but did not give details.

An Egyptian medical official said earlier that gunmen in Bedouin attire drove up in two vehicles to the checkpoint near the Karm Abu Salem border crossing and opened fire.

The Health Ministry said 16 soldiers and border guards were killed, while a security official said another seven were wounded.

Egypt's state-run MENA news agency said the gunmen were "jihadists" from inside the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

Speaking after an emergency meeting with military officials, the interior minister and the intelligence chief, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy vowed to retake control of the Sinai after the attack.

"The [security] forces will take full control of these regions," Morsy said in a TV address.

He had given "clear instructions" that Egypt must take "full control of the Sinai," after the security situation deteriorated markedly following the ouster of longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak early last year.

Morsy, who took the oath of office on 30 June to become the country's first freely elected leader and its first head of state since Mubarak's overthrow, said those who committed the "cowardly" attack and those who worked with them would pay dearly.

"Those responsible for this crime will be hunted down and arrested," he said.

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Israeli commandos complete extensive training on Egypt border

by admin
June 28th, 2012

The Israeli Walla news portal has said that the Ramon “limited war” commando unit serving on the Egyptian border has completed an extensive training that lasted for a week, together with the Givati ​​Brigade, an elite brigade of the Israeli infantry. Walla called the training the largest of its kind in ten years.

Under the command of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the elite commando unit launched guerrilla attacks during the War of Attrition in the 1970s. Today, it is deployed for patrolling the Egyptian border.

Walla quoted Israeli Chief of Staff Benny Gantz as saying, “The training at this moment is essential to maintain the ability to make decisions in case of unexpected and changing combat.” He also said that he is “happy to see the commanders increase the skills of their soldiers in various directions.”

Maariv newspaper said on Thursday that the Israeli army requested to increase its budget by 15 billion shekels to be exclusively allocated for securing the border with Egypt. The paper added that the army is studying how to better equip itself and spread across the border, reminiscent of the notion of the Egyptian front that existed during the 1967 war.

The paper pointed out that since its 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, the Israeli army has been focusing on the northern front with Syria and Lebanon, the Palestinian front in the Gaza Strip and threats from Iran. Now, the paper claims that in light of statements made by Mohamed Morsy prior to the presidential election that he would review the terms of the 1979 treaty, the Israeli army has found itself obliged to change its strategy.

Since the Muslim Brotherhood’s Morsy was officially declared president-elect of Egypt last Sunday, Israeli media has voiced concerns about border security and the fate of the Camp David Peace Accords, which limit Egyptian military presence in Sinai.

Israel has said the border area is uncontrolled and home to militant infiltrators from the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip after two rockets were reportedly launched from Sinai into Israel in April and June 2012, coming after previous attacks on the border area throughout the year.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Israel closes Karam Abu Salem border crossing

by admin
June 25th, 2012

Israeli authorities on Monday closed the Karam Abu Salem border crossing, located southeast of Gaza, because of mortal shells being fired toward it.

Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli news outlet, reported on its website that the leaders in a southern division of the Israeli army met to evaluate the situation and decided to close the crossing after mortar shells from Gaza were fired on it Sunday.

The crossing is the meeting point of the borders of Egypt, Israel and Gaza.

Ra’ed Fattouh, head of the committee in charge of goods entry to Gaza, said the committee was informed by Israel that the crossing would be closed Monday because of the missiles.

The exit closure would halt the fuel supply to the Gaza power station. Israeli authorities on Sunday allowed access to 290 trucks loaded with aid and the pumping of huge amounts of Israeli and Qatari diesel oil to the station.

Edited translation from MENA

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Egyptian security source denies IED bust on Israeli border

by admin
February 21st, 2012

ARISH — An Egyptian security source on Tuesday denied Israeli reports that Israeli and Egyptian security forces had found a bag of explosives on their joint borders.

The source said the Israeli reports were completely baseless, revealing that the items confiscated were merely sacks of drugs.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli army said it found an IED, or improvised explosive device, at the northern part of the border region. Israeli radio said late Monday that border patrol forces saw a person throw a bag then run away.

Israeli military sources said the discovery proves terrorists continue their attempts to attack the Israeli border, adding that the Egyptian side had been informed of the incident.

Security on the border with Egypt has been a source of concern for Israel since the beginning of Egypt’s revolution. Several reports have claimed a growing presence of extremist groups in Sinai, which forms a huge desert buffer zone between Egypt and Israel.

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