In a significant escalation, an Egyptian soldier has been shot dead at the Rafah border crossing after a rare exchange of gunfire erupted between the two sides.

Israel’s Channel 14 described that Egyptian security forces “fired on an Israeli truck at the Rafah crossing” and that immediately soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “responded to this with gunfire.”

Rafah border crossing, Israeli Army/AFP

Quickly after, officials on both sides of the border agreed to cease firing, and the incident is under investigation.

International reports including in Bloomberg and the BBC say that an Egyptian soldier at the border was left dead in the shootout. Israel media sources are calling it “a violation of the peace agreement with Egypt.”

The IDF subsequently confirmed: “There was a shooting incident on the Egyptian border; the [incident] is under investigation, [and] dialogue is taking place with the Egyptian side.”

Times of Israel has quoted the country’s Army Radio to describe current Israeli narrative of the incident:

The Ynet news site and Army Radio quoted unnamed Israeli military sources blaming Egypt for the deadly exchange of fire.

According to the reports, Egyptian forces opened fire first on Israeli troops at the Rafah Border Crossing, who responded with fire of their own.

The situation at the Rafah border crossing has been incredibly tense after Israel’s military took over operations of the Gaza side. Palestinian officials had previously operated the post, but earlier this month the IDF took it over as part of the ongoing Rafah offensive.

Tensions with Egypt are also at boiling point given the concern that hundreds of thousands of refugees displaced by Israel’s offensive could pour into the Sinai.

A US-backed peace treaty has guided Israel-Egypt relations since 1979…

If Egypt want to start a war with Israel, Syria will come too. Like old times. pic.twitter.com/vqpVwba5Qp

— Syrian Girl 🇸🇾 (@Partisangirl) May 27, 2024

Egypt’s economy has already long been under strain and Cairo says it can’t absorb mass numbers of displaced Palestinians. Large walled and enclosed ‘tent cities’ have been erected in the scenario where tens of thousands get across the border.