Israel-Egypt Border Clashes: IDF Deploys Troops amid Gunfire Exchanges

Two Israeli soldiers have been wounded in a shooting incident on the Israeli-Egyptian border.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) tweeted:

An IDF patrol came under fire near the community of Izuz in the central Negev Desert.
An anti-tank missile was reportedly used in the attack.

Israel dispatched a large number of troops to the scene, with the Egyptian military also stepping up security on its side of the border.

The wounded soldiers, a male and a female, served in the Caracal Battalion, responsible for border security.

They were receiving treatment at the Soroka Medical Centre in Be'er Sheva, where they were evacuated via helicopter.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack. A senior military source told Ynet that "a major aerial intelligence gathering operation" was underway to shed light on the incident.

Buzzfeed News Middle East correspondent Sheera Frenkel tweeted:

Egyptian security forces pointed the finger at Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (Champions of Jerusalem), a jihadist group operating in the Sinai area.

The Islamist militant group has been active in the restive peninsula since the Egyptian revolution against Hosni Mubarak in 2011, but stepped up its operations in recent months and is known to have targeted Israeli and Egyptian security forces in the past.

Separately, another five IDF soldiers were wounded in a road accident near the shooting location, the military said. They were travelling aboard a military jeep as the vehicle overturned.