The killing of 3 Israeli soldiers by an Egyptian policeman near the Al-Awja crossing inside Israeli territory in the Negev desert recalled the armed operation carried out by an Egyptian soldier 33 years ago in the border area, which resulted in the death of 5 Israelis, including 3 soldiers.

Thirty-three years ago, a similar incident occurred in November 33 when Egyptian border guard officer Ayman Muhammad Hosni sneaked across the border and entered Israel armed with a rifle while wearing an Egyptian army uniform, fired at Israeli military and civilian vehicles, killed five Israelis, wounded 1990, and managed to withdraw and return to Egyptian territory.

This operation, called "Ras al-Naqab", was preceded by the first armed operation carried out after the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978, on October 1985, 7, an Egyptian soldier carried out a shooting attack in South Sinai, which killed <> Israelis.

This operation was carried out by soldier Suleiman Khater, who bypassed the guard post in the Ras Cyrenaica area, where he surrendered himself to the Egyptian authorities, who began his trial, but more than a year after the operation, Egyptian newspapers published news of Khater's "suicide".

Causes and motives

The operation carried out by the Egyptian policeman on Saturday is still shrouded in mystery, and in light of the uncertainty in the position of the Israeli army and the divergence of accounts between Israel and Egypt about the motives of the attacker, analysts agreed that what happened is a failure of the Israeli army and reflects the fragility of its readiness to defend border areas and prevent infiltrations.

The day after the Israeli soldiers were shot dead by an Egyptian policeman, the IDF is still grappling with the difficult questions associated with the incident: the perpetrator's infiltration into Israeli territory, the time it took to respond, and the behavior of Israeli soldiers on the border with Egypt.


Weakness and failure

Israel's Channel 12 military affairs correspondent Nir Dvori reviewed the nature of relations between the Israeli and Egyptian armies on the border, saying that "in recent years there has been a significant improvement in the relationship, and the two armies are working together against smuggling on the border, in recent months they have thwarted together more than 300 drug smuggling operations on this border."

Dvori told Al Jazeera Net that the Israeli forces as well as the Egyptian were repeatedly shot, and recorded clashes with gangs smuggling drugs and weapons, which reflected the cooperation between the Israeli and Egyptian forces operating in the border area and are doing a good job to prevent infiltration and thwart smuggling.

However, the Israeli military correspondent says that "this unusual event raises 3 main points to note: the way the Egyptian policeman breached the fence, how he was not identified or located for a long time, the fact that the Israeli soldiers were wounded and no one was injured on the other side, and more seriously, he learned about the operation hours after it took place."

Dvori believes that the incident, the questions it raises and the points that have unfolded indicate the weakness of the Israeli ground forces guarding the border area, an incident that indicates that the Israeli army failed to protect the border and prevent infiltration, as well as failed to respond quickly, especially since a drone detected the infiltration but did not fire at the suspect.

Narratives and contradictions

In a sign of the failure of Israeli forces, Ron Ben-Yishai, a military analyst for the Yedioth Ahronoth website, explained that the Egyptian policeman sneaked through the border fence known as the "hourglass" into Israeli territory, possibly overnight, hours before the shooting began.

"This information and facts refute the Egyptian side's narrative, which showed that the Egyptian border guard entered Israel to pursue the smugglers," Ben-Yishai said.

Amid the divergence in official positions between Egypt and Israel regarding scientific motives, the military analyst does not rule out that this is a pre-planned operation.

Ben-Yishai believes that the uncertainty about the details of the operation and who is behind it requires an in-depth and joint investigation between Israel and Egypt, and drawing lessons for the Egyptian and Israeli armies, especially in light of the common interests of fighting militants, ISIS and smugglers.


Attacks and challenges

While reinforcing Israeli analysts' assessments that the operation was planned in advance and carried out for ideological motives, Arab and Middle Eastern affairs correspondent Shahar Kleiman explained that "the attack on the Egyptian border is a painful testimony to the state of chaos in North Sinai."

Kleiman told Al Jazeera Net that "if it turns out that the Egyptian policeman has done a planned and direct work, there will be repercussions on relations and great concern that there is a planned attempt to prejudice and sabotage the relationship between the Israeli army and the Egyptian security services."

The Israeli correspondent explained that the attack is a reminder of the real challenges facing Israel in the Middle East, where this infiltration and events on all fronts and borders with neighboring countries come to make it clear that the existence of a Jewish state in the "Land of Israel" (historic Palestine) is still not possible.


Infiltration and smuggling

In an effort to prevent drug and weapons smuggling and the infiltration of militants and irregular migrants, Israel's Defense Ministry in 2013 built a 241-kilometer border wall and fence between Israel and Egypt.

But since the inauguration of the more than a billion dollar barrier, there have been several incidents between the Israeli army and infiltrators, as well as clashes with members of the Egyptian army.

Unlike the Egyptian border guards, who operate from fortified compounds scattered along the border, Israeli control is mostly through visual and electronic surveillance aids, and another measure used by Israeli security forces is to block the openings of sewage channels with the fence and the fence to prevent infiltration into the south.

About six months ago, an Arab with Israeli citizenship from the Negev was shot dead by the Israeli army for allegedly thwarting drug smuggling from Sinai.

Clash and frustration

In January 2022, two Israeli border guards were lightly injured at the Israeli-Egyptian border as a result of "misidentification" while thwarting drug smuggling by the Israeli army.

The results of the investigation into the incident revealed that IDF soldiers suspected that two jeeps from the Border Police undercover unit were carrying a number of drug traffickers and had shot them, at which point Border Police officers tried to signal them and inform them that they were a "friendly force" of Israeli forces.

In September 2022, the Israeli army thwarted a major drug smuggling operation on the Egyptian border, where more than 100 kilograms of drugs worth about $<> million were seized, according to official announcements.