Egypt penetrates Israeli air space for first time since 1967 War

Egyptian military aircraft have overflown Israel territory for the first time since the 1967 war, Israeli military sources said. The sources said over the last few months Egyptian military helicopters have entered Israeli air space several times. They said the Egyptian flights sparked an alert of the Israel Air Force, which sent fighter-jets to intercept the Egyptian aircraft. In one case, the sources said, an Egyptian military French-origin Gazelle helicopter crossed the Israeli border and appeared headed toward the nuclear reactor at Dimona. Israeli aircraft and ground units responded quickly and the helicopter returned to Egypt. "We have never seen such behavior before," a military source said of the penetrations. "This is extremely disturbing." Under the 1979 treaty, Egypt was banned from flying helicopters along the eastern Sinai Peninsula. But in 2005 the treaty was modified to allow Cairo to deploy armored personnel carriers, heavy weapons and utility helicopters near the Israeli border.