Global media is reporting that President Morsi has recalled the ambassador to Israel after Israeli air strikes killed the Hamas military commander in Gaza. According to an Alarabiya report:
Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi decided on Wednesday to recall the ambassador to Israel after a series of air strikes in Gaza killed a top Hamas militant and six other people, his spokesman said. Mursi decided to ‘recall Egypt’s ambassador to Israel,’ spokesman Yassir Ali said in a statement broadcast on state television. He also ordered the foreign ministry to summon Israel’s ambassador in Cairo. Meanwhile, an airport source said on Wednesday that Israel’s ambassador left Egypt after Mursi announced he was summoning him to discuss the Israeli attacks in Gaza. ‘The Israeli ambassador to Egypt left suddenly along with his embassy staff… after Egypt summoned its ambassador in Tel Aviv following the Israeli assault on Gaza enclave,’ the source said. But an Israeli diplomat said Israel’s ambassador to Egypt has not been recalled. Ambassador Yaakov Amitai had come to Israel before the Jewish state launched an assault on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the diplomat told Reuters, adding that the embassy in Cairo was functioning as normal. Egypt’s foreign ministry condemned the attack and called for an immediate halt to the attacks. The attacks came despite signs that Egypt had managed to broker a truce between Israel and Palestinian militants after a five-day surge in violence which saw more than 100 missiles fired out of Gaza and repeated Israeli strikes on the enclave. ‘Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr condemned the series of air strikes that Israel is currently conducting against Gaza Strip and which led to the killing of Ahmed Al-Jaabari,’ AFP reported the statement released by Egypt’s foreign ministry. ‘He called on Israel to stop its strikes on Gaza Strip immediately,’ the statement said adding that any further escalation from Israel ‘could have negative repercussions on the security and stabiltiy of the region.’ The statement said the Egyptian minister considered the ‘Israeli escalation to be very dangerous.’ Meanwhile, Egypt’s Islamist Freedom and Justice Party, formerly headed by Mursi, said on Wednesday Egypt would no longer stand by as Israel attacked Palestinians after air strikes killed a Hamas leader.
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A post from earlier today analyzed the possible meanings of the recent Gaza violence originating from rocket fire directed towards Israel from the Gaza Strip.
For the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood statement on the crisis, go here.