Egypt summons Israeli diplomat over border shooting
Rare shooting incident on Egyptian-Israeli border provokes Egypt to invite Israeli charge d'affaires for talks, demand official Israeli apology for 'irresponsible Israeli behavior on border'
Egypt summoned the Israeli charge d'affaires on Sunday to protest about the cross-border shooting of an Egyptian security officer by an Israeli patrol this month, an Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement said.
Shooting incidents between Israeli and Egyptian forces along the border have been rare since a peace treaty in 1979.
But Egyptian police have shot dead at least six African migrants trying to cross into Israel since May, and other non-fatal incidents involving illegal migrants are often reported.
Israeli diplomats are more usually summoned in connection with issues regarding the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, such as to protest against building on occupied Palestinian land.
The Israeli embassy confirmed the charge d'affaires, Shani Cooper-Zubida, had been summoned but did not give details.
The Foreign Ministry statement said Egypt formed a team to investigate the wounding in mid-August of the 21-year-old conscript and when "the mistake from the Israeli side" was confirmed, the ministry issued the summons.
It said the charge d'affaires was informed about "Egypt's strong condemnation represented in this irresponsible Israeli behavior on the border" and said Egypt requested an apology from the Israeli government.
The Israeli military said the Israeli soldiers on patrol mistook the Egyptian for an enemy infiltrator.
