"Egypt has decided to withdraw its ambassador to Israel until there is an official apology"

Egypt has decided Saturday to withdraw its ambassador from Tel Aviv to protest the killing of five policemen on the border during attacks on Palestinian resistance fighters, state television said Saturday.
  
The Egyptian government had asked "for an official apology from Israel" at the end of a crisis meeting overnight, the state-run MENA news agency reported in a statement.
 
Just hours later, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed ‘regret’ over the deaths of Egyptian policemen and promised a full investigation. He said he ordered the "army to open an investigation" into the killings. "The circumstances of this incident will be examined jointly with the Egyptian army," and the conclusions will be drawn in light of the results of the probe, he said in a statement. He also insisted that the peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel was "strategic and highly important for stability in the Middle East."
  
A top Israeli defense official stressed meanwhile that peace with Egypt "is a strategic asset" and it would be unthinkable for Israeli personnel to target their Egyptian counterparts.
  
Amos Gilad, head of the defense ministry political department, also urged patience until the results of a probe are known. "Nobody in the army, nobody anywhere in the security establishment has any intention of harming Egyptian soldiers or Egyptian policemen, on the contrary, the intention of course is to not harm them," he said. "No soldier would consciously aim his weapon at Egyptian soldiers or policemen," Gilad told Israeli public radio.

High-ranking Egyptian politicians have reacted to the deadly incident.

“Israel has to realize that the days in which our sons are killed without an appropriate and strong reaction are forever gone,” said Amr Moussa, the former foreign minister and head of the Arab League, on his personal Twitter account.

Former Egyptian ambassador to the United States Nabil Fahmy has also stated that such violence against a “democratic Egypt” is unacceptable.

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has said in a message published on his Facebook page: "Egyptian blood is too precious to be spilled for no reason." "Our glorious revolution took place so that Egyptians could regain their dignity at home and abroad. What was tolerated in pre-revolution Egypt will not be in post-revolution Egypt," he said.

Egypt's cabinet has summoned the Israeli ambassador to Cairo over the issue, expressing regret over the reaction of Tel Aviv to the incident. "Egypt deplores the irresponsible and hasty statements made by some leaders in Israel, which lack the wisdom and prudence and pass judgment before arriving at the truth, particularly keeping in mind the sensitivity of Egyptian-Israeli relations," the cabinet said in a statement.

Meanwhile, angry Egyptians have continued their protest outside the Tel Aviv embassy in Cairo, calling on authorities to cut ties with the Tel Aviv regime and expel its ambassador.

Information Minister Osama Heykal was quoted as saying by MENA that five policemen were killed "inside Egyptian territory as a result of an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and armed elements inside Israeli territory."
  
Egypt's military chief of staff, Sami Enan, headed to the Sinai on Friday to probe the deaths of the policemen killed a day earlier. There have been conflicting reports from the Egyptian military and police about how they lost their lives.
  
A military official told Egypt's official MENA news agency on Thursday that they were killed by stray Israeli helicopter fire aimed at the fleeing gunmen. But on Friday, the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper quoted a military official as saying the policemen were killed by gunmen trying to slip in from “Israel”.
 
Enan's visit was announced shortly after another policeman was declared dead following a border gunfight on Friday, which left one of his comrades gravely wounded with a bullet in the head.