Egyptian ire

Egypt's cabinet has summoned the Israeli ambassador to Cairo and announced the withdrawal of its envoy to the Jewish state, in protest of the killings of Egyptian border personnel on Thursday during Israel's retaliation against Palestinian militants.

"The cabinet committee has decided to withdraw the Egyptian ambassador in Israel until the result of investigations by the Israeli authorities is provided and an apology from the Israeli leadership over the hasty and regrettable statements about Egypt is given," the government said on its website on Saturday, August 20.

"Egypt deplores the irresponsible and hasty statements made by some leaders in Israel, which lack the wisdom and prudence and pass judgment before arriving at the truth, particularly keeping in mind the sensitivity of Egyptian-Israeli relations," the statement added.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Friday that Thursday's deadly attacks on Israeli citizens along the Israel-Egypt border reflected "the weakening of Egypt's hold in the Sinai and the broadening of activities by terror elements."

Although Israel and Egypt enjoyed friendly relations under former President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli officials have regularly voiced concern about a security vacuum along their joint border since his ouster.

On Friday evening, about 100 protesters gathered at the Israeli embassy in Cairo, tearing down the metal barriers at the entrance to the building.

Israel strikes back

Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes Thursday after eight Israelis were killed in a spate of coordinated attacks on two desert roads near the Red Sea resort town of Eilat.

Israel swiftly pinned the blame for Thursday's attack on a Palestinian group independent of Islamist Hamas and killed the faction's leadership in an airstrike on Thursday, while launching more than a dozen more raids on Friday.

"We have a policy of exacting a very heavy price of anyone who attacks us and this policy is being implemented," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday while visiting wounded compatriots in hospital.

There were conflicting reports in Egypt as to how the Egyptian border policemen lost their lives. A military official told Egypt's official MENA news agency on Thursday that they were killed by stray Israeli helicopter fire aimed at the fleeing gunmen, but on Friday, the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper quoted a military official as saying the policemen were killed by gunmen trying to slip in from Israel.

'No more truce'

At least eleven militants and four civilians were killed in Gaza airstrikes, according to Hamas medical sources.

Gaza militants meanwhile responded by firing at least 24 rockets at Israel, spreading panic, and injuring three people in Ashdod early on Saturday. All three wounded were Palestinians living in Ashdod illegally, according to police.

Hamas, whose militants have not claimed responsibility for any of the rocket fire, announced over radio that its group's armed wing had decided "there is no longer any truce with the enemy," alluding to a 2009 deal that ended a three-week Israeli offensive targeting militants firing rockets at the Jewish state.

International outrage

Germany on Friday joined the United States and France in condemning the attacks on Israeli citizens.

"The difficult struggle for peace and balance in the Middle East must not be shot down by terrorism and violence," said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

In New York, the United Nations Security Council met to consider a statement drafted by the United States to condemn the attack on Israelis, but Lebanon, the council's sole Arab member, blocked the statement after insisting that the 15-nation body also condemn Israel's airstrikes in Gaza.

Author: David Levitz (AFP, Reuters)

Editor: Toma Tasovac