MFO Says Israel Entered Egypt, Committed Violations

A monitoring force stationed in the Sinai in keeping with the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel said Israel violated it when its troops entered Egyptian territory and fired on security personnel, state news agency MENA reported on Saturday.

"The (Multinational Force and Observer) recorded two violations committed by Israel," the agency said, citing an MFO report.

"The international forces said in their report on the deaths of Egyptian security personnel that the violations were entering Egyptian territory and firing in the Egyptian side of the border," the agency reported.

MENA said the MFO report did not say whether there were grounds for Israel's accusations that militants it was pursuing on Thursday when the Egyptian policemen died along the border had infiltrated its Negev desert from Egypt.

Eight Israelis were killed in separate attacks on Thursday near the border when gunmen opened fire on buses and cars.

Egypt, which because the first Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel in 1979, has summoned the Jewish state's envoy and demanded an apology and an investigation.

State television reported that Egypt would also recall its ambassador in Tel Aviv.