Screenshot. Via X.
On October 8, two Israeli tourists were killed when a gunman opened fire on their group in the coastal Egyptian city of Alexandria.
The tourists’ Egyptian tour guide was killed as well, and a third Israeli was moderately wounded in the shooting attack that took place at the Pompey’s Pillar site. Footage after the attacks showed two victims sprawled on the stone walkways of the historic site, one bleeding from his head. Another injured man lay on the stairs nearby.
Arabic media reports indicated that the shooter was a local policeman. He was reportedly detained by Egyptian security forces.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry, the National Security Council, the military, and the embassy in Cairo have all been working to bring the Israelis back home, said the ministry spokesman. A military plane will carry the survivors and the bodies back to Israel.
The attack took place amid a fierce battle between the Israeli military and Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip. The battle broke out a day earlier when hundreds of Palestinian fighters infiltrated the country in an unprecedented onslaught on southern settlements with over 600 killed, over 2,000 wounded and apparently dozens captured.
It is very likely that the shooting attack in Alexandria was carried out in solidarity with Gaza, where some 370 Palestinains were killed in Israeli strikes.
Last June, an Egyptian policeman shot and killed three Israeli soldiers during an infiltration in the Negev Desert. The attack came following an Israeli crackdown on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The ongoing battle in Gaza is already leading to high tensions in the region. On October 8 morning, Hezbollah attacked three Israeli sites from southern Lebanon in support of Palestinian factions. More attacks against Israel and Israelis abroad are to be expected.
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