Egypt’s plans to conduct live-fire exercises in Sinai have alarmed Israel’s residents and security officers on the other side of their shared border.Although the drills were coordinated with Israel within the terms of the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries, Israeli residents, including those living close to Gaza, are reported to be concerned about their proximity. Israeli media suggest that many fear a return to the conditions that preceded the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed more than 1,000 people, most of them civilians.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list“The sequence of events is eerily reminiscent of what preceded the October 7 disaster,” one female resident of Bnei Netzarim, a town near the border, told YNet news. “How, after everything we’ve been through, does the [Israeli military] approve a foreign army operating with live fire right on the contact line?”“Gunfire noise is the perfect cover for smuggling or even a raid. Why allow them to get so close? They have vast areas in Sinai.”In a statement issued ahead of the drills, the Forum for Israel’s Border Communities also said it was unacceptable for Egyptian forces to conduct exercises so close to the border, adding that the drills resembled patterns seen in the lead-up to the October 7 attack, despite there being no reported link between Egypt and the Hamas led incursion o …
