Sources: Police officer kills 2 Israeli tourists, Egyptian tour guide in Alexandria

A day after Hamas launched an unprecedented assault on southern Israel, two Israeli nationals and one Egyptian were killed on Sunday by a police officer who opened fire on a tourist group visiting a monument in Alexandria, an eyewitness, a medical source and a security source told Mada Masr.

The eyewitness, who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, said that Sunday’s incident unfolded after a security officer responsible for securing the area got into an altercation with a group of Israeli tourists visiting Pompey’s Pillar. The tourists wanted to take photographs with an Israeli flag, but the officer tried to prevent them from doing so. The tourists insisted on taking photos with the flag, however.

The situation escalated, according to other medical sources, who identified the security figure as a junior police officer, and the officer opened fire at the tourist group, hitting two Israeli nationals in the head and chest and injuring an Egyptian national who was acting as a tour guide for the group.

A more senior officer opened fire at the junior police officer, said the medical sources. The junior police officer was arrested shortly afterward, and police closed the area off to the public.

Verified footage of the incident circulating online showed two people face down on the stone walkways surrounding Pompey’s Pillar, one bleeding heavily from a head wound.

The Egyptian national was transferred to a hospital, according to the medical sources. 

The tour guide later passed away due to injuries sustained from the shooting. Egypt’s tour guides syndicate offered its condolences to fellow guide Sayed Kamal, who died on Sunday during the “painful incident” that took place while Kamal was doing his job.

Both the Israelis and the Egyptian were killed as a result of the shooting, according to domestic news outlets citing a security source.

The killing of the tourists comes a day after Hamas launched an unprecedented offensive into Israel, breaching the separation wall that has cut the Gaza Strip off from the rest of the world for the last 16 years and entering into settlements surrounding the coastal enclave. At least 600 Israelis have been killed — a death toll that is still rising — and dozens were taken as prisoners, likely held as a bargaining chip in negotiations to secure the release of hundreds of political prisoners and Hamas members held in Israeli jails without due process. 

Israel has responded with airstrikes on Gaza and attempted to wrest back control over southern Israel from Hamas militants and Palestinians who entered occupied territory when the wall was breached. However, clashes in the settlements continued into Sunday afternoon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads a fractured government, has vowed to raze Gaza to the ground in response.

Egypt has seen widespread support for the Hamas-led offensive as an act of defiance against the status quo of Israel’s crushing occupation of Palestine, putting the Egyptian government in a difficult position as it enforces the siege on Gaza and would like to limit public criticism of Israel for political and security reasons, given its close coordination with the government in Tel Aviv.

In a rare incident in June, an Armed Forces conscript shot and killed three members of the Israeli Defence Forces before being shot down himself after he crossed the securitized border and moved into Israeli-held territory. Following a joint investigation, the incident was described as an isolated act.

The conscript was widely praised on social media in Egypt. 

Similar praise was heaped on the police officer involved in Saturday’s incident. 

Lawyer and Presidential Amnesty Committee member Tarek al-Awady was quick to volunteer to provide legal representation to the officer. He called on his “senior legal colleagues and professors in Egypt, the Lawyers Syndicate, political parties and human rights organizations” to follow suit.

Looking to control public discourse, the government has issued instructions to religious authorities and media outlets to try to prevent what sources described to Mada Masr on Sunday as “chaos.”

The instructions were prompted by the government’s “embarrassment” in the face of Al-Azhar’s statement celebrating the Palestinian resistance on Saturday, one government source said.

A source directly informed of these directives to Al-Azhar told Mada Masr that Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayyeb was informed indirectly of the government’s dissatisfaction with the religious institution’s praise for the resistance and of the need to adopt a discourse that does not “encourage chaos” and to be more cautious in future speeches.

A source in the Endowments Ministry told Mada Masr the ministry is coordinating with its directorates across the country to ensure that coming Friday sermons avoid “escalatory language.” Security bodies and directorates also plan to close mosques immediately after the conclusion of Friday prayer, the source added.

The media has also received instructions on how to approach coverage of the evolving conflict, according to media sources who spoke to Mada Masr, who say they’ve been told to emphasize Egypt’s support of the Palestinian cause, its role in ensuring calm, and its role as the guarantor of stability in the region. The media has also been instructed to avoid enthusiastic expressions of support or transmitting lengthy clips of funerals in Gaza.