Anti-Israel protests in Egypt; more air-strikes on Gaza

Egypt registered a formal complaint with Israel over the killings of three Egyptian officers at the Sinai border and demanded an immediate investigation on Aug. 19, one day after militants carried out deadly attacks near Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat. Egyptian security officials said that the three officers were killed when an Israeli helicopter fired at suspected militants who had fled into a crowd of security personnel on the Egyptian side of the border. Dozens of Egyptians demonstrated outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo, burning the Israeli flag and chanting, "Close the embassy! Expel the ambassador!" (AlJazeera, NYT, Aug. 19)

Israeli shelling killed two people in the eastern and northern Gaza Strip on Aug. 19, bringing the death toll in the coastal enclave to nine in the 24 hours since the Eilat attacks. Earlier, Israeli warplanes struck an-Nuseirat refugee camp, destroying an electric generator and causing a local power outage. (Maan News Agency, Aug. 19) Militants in Gaza retaliated with more rocket attacks into Israel, seriously injuring one. (AFP, Aug. 19)