Two Israeli tourists 'shot dead by Egyptian police officer'

Two Israeli tourists ‘shot dead by Egyptian police officer’ outside Roman tourist site in Alexandria as Gaza conflict stirs tensions across the Middle East

• The attack took place at popular tourist site Pompey’s Pillar on Sunday morning

Two Israeli tourists have been killed after a police officer opened fire on them in the city of Alexandria.

The pair, along with their Egyptian guide, were fatally injured after being shot at popular Roman tourist site in the Mediterranean city on Sunday morning.

A statement from Egypt’s Interior Ministry said that another person was wounded in the attack at the Pompey’s Pillar site in Alexandria. It provided no further details.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry identified the wounded as an Israeli who suffered moderate injuries. The ministry said in a statement that Israeli authorities were working with the Egyptian government to bring the Israelis home.

Extra News television channel, which has close ties to Egyptian security agencies, reported that the suspected assailant was detained. 

According to Egyptian sources speaking to Reuters, the policeman said he lost control and fired randomly on the tourist group after being provoked. 

It comes amid rising tensions across the region after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel from the Gaza strip, killing hundreds of people and taking dozens of others hostage.

Disturbing video posted online shows bodies lying on the floor after an Egyptian police officer opened fire on Israeli tourists in the city of Alexandria

Footage shows police standing close to the bodies after the attacker was taken into custody

Amateur video shows casualties being loaded into ambulances at popular tourist site Pompey’s Pillar following the attack

The head of Egyptian intelligence was in close contact with officials from Israel and Hamas following the outbreak of violence, three security sources said on Saturday. 

Egypt made peace with Israel decades ago and has long served as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But anti-Israeli sentiment runs high in the country, especially during bouts of violence.

READ MORE HERE:  Israeli woman describes terrifying ordeal as she played dead for three hours while Hamas terrorists massacred fleeing revellers 

In June, three Israeli soldiers and one Egyptian security officer were killed in an hours-long incident near the countries’ border.

Israel’s Zaka rescue service reported two people had been killed in Alexandria in the latest attack.

Disturbing footage shared online shows the bodies of three people laying on a stairway close to Pompey’s Pillar, while a wounded man is attended to by passerby.

One amateur video circulating on social media showed at least three ambulances apparently taking the victims to hospitals while onlookers were seen watching behind a police barrier.

Pompey’s Pillar is a famous Roman-era granite column which stands in the Serapeum of Alexandria, an ancient Greek temple. The 33.85-metre column, which was built in the 3rd Century, is the only ancient monument still standing in the city still in its original location and is a popular tourist attraction.

The attack comes as Israel defends itself against a sneak attack by terrorist group Hamas from the Gaza strip.

People assess the destruction cause by Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on Saturday. Israel has launched a counterstrike against Hamas militants after a sneak attack that killed hundreds

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, as seen from Ashkelon in southern Israel early Sunday

More than 300 Israelis have been killed, and 1,590 injured, since Hamas launched its blitz attack on Saturday morning with rockets and up to 1,000 armed militants roving in gangs, attacking civilians and soldiers alike across dozens of locations.

The assault caught Israel by surprise, with no warning for people living near the border with the Palestinian territory.

Gangs of the Hamas militants charged across into Israel, targeting settlements and people nearby, including hundreds of people who were attending a ‘peace festival’ in the desert.

Here they killed dozens of people, with witnesses describing how they saw terrorists shooting people with automatic weapons as they went ‘tree by tree’ murdering those trying to hide.

Videos released on social media later showed them taking hostages, including one terrified student who could be heard desperately pleading ‘don’t kill me’ as she was forcibly separated from her boyfriend.

Hamas claimed to have fired 5,000 rockets into Israel from the occupied Gaza Strip, setting off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

Palestinian inspect a mosque destroyed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza on Sunday

Disturbing footage later showed the bodies of people killed being paraded on a truck by Hamas militants, including a female German tattoo artist who the terrorists claimed was an Israeli soldier.

An Israeli military spokesperson said Sunday morning that two hostage situations had been ‘resolved,’ but did not say whether those hostages had been rescued alive.

READ MORE HERE:  Moment Israeli drone rains down fire on Hamas fighters as retaliation strikes begin

An official number of how many people have been kidnapped is currently not known, but the Israeli Embassy to the United States suggests a figure of 100 civilians and soldiers.

Israel has since launched retaliatory air strikes in the territory and is fighting street-by-street in some towns in southern Israel to force them out.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said more than 400 Palestinian militants had been killed in southern Israel and the Gaza strip, and dozens more captured.

‘As of this hour, there are forces fighting in [Kibbutz] Kfar Aza, there are searches in a large number of towns. There are IDF forces in all towns, there is no town that does not have an IDF force in it,’ he is quoted as saying in The Times of Israel.

Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom Tzipi Hotovely has blamed Iran for supporting Hamas ahead of Saturday’s attack.

She told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News: ‘Iran is backing up Hamas, Iran is destabilising the region with its proxies.

‘We are willing to take a long fighting time to defend our people, we must make sure no one has a motivation to do that again.’

People standing on a rooftop watch as a ball of fire and smoke rises above a building in Gaza City during an Israeli air strike that hit the Palestine Tower building on Saturday

The military branch announced in a post to X, formerly Twitter, early on Sunday morning that it had ordered a missile strike on a compound belonging to Hamas’ head of intelligence, along with a video of a purported attack.

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It said: ‘A short while ago, IAF fighter jets struck a compound belonging to the head of the intelligence department in the Hamas terrorist organization.

‘The IAF is currently continuing to strike terror targets in the Gaza Strip.’

The short black-and-white clip, shared to social media, shows a missile cruising into a house in a densely built up area, before smoke and fire begin pouring out of the building.

On top of this, it said it targeted two banks ‘belonging to Hamas terror organisation for terror funds’, an ‘aerial weapons production’ site belonging to the ‘Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation’, and a building ‘including offices and storage units’ where weapons and military equipment were stored.

Drone footage also showed the moment a group of Hamas fighters were attacked from the sky as they try and cross the Gaza-Israel border.

At least seven armed men can be seen moving, before being consumed by a fireball caused by an Israeli missile.

The footage also shows a drone attack on a car that is driving at high speeds through the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians.

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