Israel to keep Taba border crossing with Egypt closed

Israel has decided to extend the closure of the Taba border crossing with Egypt amid fears of possible attacks on Israeli targets by militant groups operating from Egypt’s Sinai.

The Israeli decision to close the border to Israeli citizens traveling from Israel to Egypt was announced in a statement issued by the counterterrorism unit in Israel’s National Security Council, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

The Israeli decision to close the border was initially made last week following a security assessment conducted by Israeli authorities ahead of Passover into “the security situation in the Sinai region and the risk posed to Israelis” by increased Daesh-affiliated activity in the Egyptian peninsula, Haaretz added.

Read: Israel closes border with Egypt after attacks

A reassessment was conducted on Monday, resulting in the continued closure of the Taba border.

The decision to keep the border closed “would be reexamined in the coming days and would be changed in accordance to the situation,” Haartez reported, quoting the official Israeli statement.

On Tuesday, one Egyptian police officer was killed and four injured after gunmen attacked a police checkpoint near St. Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt’s south Sinai. Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack on Wednesday.

While the militant group has wreaked havoc in the northern Sinai in the past few years, southern Sinai had not seen major Daesh activity before Tuesday’s attack.