Israeli planes fly over Egypt to bomb Gaza - witnesses

[DogPoundPup]

CAIRO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes have been flying over Egyptian territory during their bombing runs along the border between Gaza and Egypt, witnesses said on Sunday.

The witnesses, who have spent many hours close to the Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza, said they had seen the Israeli planes fly over on several occasions, often at such low altitude that it was clear they were over Egyptian territory.

Israeli planes have been bombing on the Gaza side of the border, within a few hundreds of metres (yards) of Egypt, targeting tunnels which Israel says the Islamist movement Hamas uses for smuggling weapons into Gaza.

The three witnesses said they wanted to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the matter. The Egyptian government has faced a barrage of criticism for cooperating with Israel in the blockade of Gaza over the past six months.

Israeli and Egyptian Defence Ministry officials either were unavailable or had no comment on the reports, and it was not clear if Israel was giving Egypt any warning of the flights.

Under the peace treaty which Egypt and Israel signed in 1979, Israel has the right to fly combat planes up to the international border, while Egyptian combat planes cannot fly east of a zone which covers roughly the western third of the Sinai peninsula.
http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLB72639320090111?feedType=RSS&feedName=egyptNews

[PCIntern]

1. ...and I can see Russia from my house!

I saw Russian planes once over Philly in 1959...I was six and I swear they were ready to drop the H-bomb, but for some reason they didn't and we were fine. I was a witness.

(True story...I saw planes, assumed they were Russian, and 'knew' I was going to die)

[Barack_America]

3. No offense, but then Israel has some pretty remarkable planes...

That they can drop bombs so close to the Egyptian border that they injure civilians and homes in Egypt, without actually crossing the border into Egypt.

Talk about air-brakes.

[Scurrilous]

2. Israeli bomb shrapnel wounds 4 Egyptians

<snip>

"Two Egyptian children and two police officers were wounded by shrapnel from Israeli bombs near a crossing point at Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday, security sources said.

The children, aged two and five, and the two officers were the first Egyptians to be wounded by Israeli bombs since the Israeli offensive against Gaza began on December 27, and were taken to hospitals in el-Arish.

There were no details of the gravity of their injuries.

Witnesses said Egyptian houses near the border and government offices at the crossing were damaged by shrapnel on Sunday."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/usTopNews/idUKTRE50A1XS20090111