War against Gaza: Egyptian soldier killed in exchange of fire with Israeli forces near Rafah crossing

An Egyptian soldier was killed Monday in an exchange of fire with Israeli forces at the Rafah border crossing on Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip.

Kan public broadcaster said no Israeli soldiers were injured in the incident, which left one Egyptian dead and others injured.

The Israeli army said: “A few hours ago there was a shooting on the Egyptian border, (the incident) is under investigation and a dialogue is underway with the Egyptian side.”

The Egyptian military confirmed that one person had been killed and said it was investigating the shooting.

Daily News Egypt, an independent English-language Egyptian newspaper, cited anonymous sources as saying that Egyptian soldiers were “affected” by Sunday’s Rafah massacre, in which an Israeli bombardment left 45 Palestinians dead in a camp of displaced people.

Middle East Eye was unable to independently verify this information.

The Rafah border crossing was seized by Israeli forces earlier this month as the army expanded its land invasion of Gaza to the southern town of Rafah.

The occupation of the crossing increased tensions between Egypt and Israel, threatening 45 years of peace between the two countries, which had previously fought four wars.

Israel’s takeover of the crossing angered Egypt, which usually cooperates closely with Israel on security issues.

An Egyptian military source previously told Middle East Eye that there had been “no operational coordination” between Egypt and Israel before the crossing was seized.

A week after Israel stormed the crossing, Egypt deployed additional armored personnel carriers and soldiers to its border with Gaza in northeast Sinai, according to the Sinai Foundation for human rights.

Cairo also refused to open the border crossing on the Egyptian side until the Israeli army withdrew, saying that operation of the crossing was exclusively an Egyptian-Palestinian affair.