The first Egyptian comment on a citizen infiltrating Israel.. “Unbalanced and we are working to bring him back”

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Hours after the Israeli army announced the detention of an Egyptian who crossed the border fence into Israel on Tuesday, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the citizen was “absent from his home and psychologically unstable.”

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated, in a statement, that “the national authorities in Egypt followed what was published in the media about an Egyptian crossing the border fence from Egyptian territory into Israeli territory,” explaining that it turned out that this citizen has been absent from his home since last July and is psychologically unstable.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry also confirmed that it is working to take the necessary measures to return him to Egypt from Israel.

The Israeli army had announced earlier today the detention of an Egyptian civilian after he crossed the border fence on Monday night. He said in a statement that he "detained the Egyptian citizen after crossing the border fence from Egyptian territory to Israel near the Nitzana area."

Israeli sources indicated that the initial investigations of the General Security Agency (Shin Bet) focused on the fact that the infiltrator was not carrying a weapon while crossing the border from under the border fence. However, immediately after his first contact with an Israeli military force, specifically soldiers from Reserve Battalion 5025, he attempted to forcefully seize one of them’s weapons, before the forces were able to control and arrest him.

The sources pointed out that the Egyptian young man admitted during the initial investigations conducted by the Shin Bet that he had deliberately crossed the border with the aim of carrying out an operation, according to what was reported by Israeli media.

It also stated that investigations are still ongoing amid the imposition of a shroud of secrecy on the circumstances of the security incident and its repercussions.

In addition, the Israeli army confirmed that it "deals with the incident very seriously and continues to maintain its forces at a high level of defensive readiness in the region."

The army also indicated that it transferred Al-Masry to the security forces for additional interrogation, without providing further details.

This incident came as Israelis headed to the polls, in the first elections since the October 7, 2023 attack led by the Hamas movement, in an entitlement seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, the Israeli forces raised their alert and preparations in anticipation of any emergency, especially after the Hebron incident and the escalating tensions in the West Bank.