Israel: defence minister praises IDF strength after deadly border incident

Israel’s defence minister has praised the strength of the Israeli army in the wake of what he called a quick, decisive, and clear investigation into the deadly incident on the Egyptian border last week in which three occupation soldiers were killed. Yoav Gallant added that the Israel Defence Forces are indebted to the families of those who were killed.

Gallant explained that the Chief of Staff had presented him with the findings of the investigation into the incident. He said that it should not have happened, but confirmed that decisions will be made to prevent similar incidents happening in the future.

An Egyptian border policeman cut through the security fence and crossed several kilometres of open desert before attacking the Israeli military outpost. He killed three occupation soldiers before he too was killed in the ensuing exchange of fire. At the time, an Egyptian army spokesman said that Mohammad Salah Ibrahim, 22, was pursuing drug smugglers.

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