20 August 2011
Egyptians gathered outside the Israeli embassy for a second day of protests
Egyptian state TV has said the country is recalling its ambassador to Israel until Israel explains why it reportedly shot dead five Egyptian policemen.
Demanding an apology, Egypt's cabinet was quoted as saying Cairo held Israel politically and legally responsible and was summoning the Israeli ambassador.
Israel says it will investigate the shooting, said to have happened as its forces pursued Palestinian militants.
The latest violence began on Thursday when gunmen attacked Israeli buses.
Eight people were killed in the attacks, near the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat.
Egyptian officials say Israeli forces chased the suspected militants across the border, and a number of people were killed - including the policemen.
Tensions between Israel and Egypt have escalated sharply, the BBC's Yolande Knell reports from Jerusalem.
Their 30-year-old peace treaty was already being tested after the long-time Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak, was forced from office earlier this year, our correspondent says.
Hundreds of Egyptians protested outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo overnight, burning the Israeli flag and demanding that the Israeli ambassador be expelled from the country. Protests were reportedly continuing on Saturday morning.
"We don't want any ties with Israel," one protester, Ahmed Aggoura, told the BBC.
"Israel is only interested in a subservient Egypt, not a free Egypt. By protesting outside the embassy we're sending them a clear message. This is not Mubarak's Egypt anymore. If you kill our soldiers, there will be consequences."
On Friday, in Egypt's second city, Alexandria, a protester managed to take down the Israeli flag from the consulate there and replaced it with Egyptian and Palestinian flags.
After the initial Eilat attack, Israel expressed concern about security in the Sinai Peninsula and said Palestinian attackers had reached Eilat after entering Egypt from Gaza and travelling through the Sinai desert.
But, according to Egyptian state TV, the Egyptian cabinet issued a statement on Saturday denying it had lost control of the Sinai and demanding an apology from the Israeli leadership over "the sad and hasty remarks about Egypt".
"The cabinet assigns the Egyptian foreign minister to summon the Israeli ambassador in Cairo... in protest over shootings on the Israeli side of the border that led to deaths on the Egyptian side," the statement said.
Egypt's ambassador to Israel was being recalled, the cabinet said, "until we are notified about the results of an investigation by the Israeli authorities".
Cairo said it regarded the attack as a breach of the 1979 peace treaty between the two nations, and blamed Israel for lax border controls.
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