Israel urges citizens out of Sinai
Counterterrorism Bureau says intelligence reveals terrorists plan to carry out attacks on Israeli tourists in the immediate future
Israel’s Counterterrorism Bureau warned Israeli citizens to leave Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula immediately.
“We possess information that Gaza terror groups and others are planning attacks on Israeli tourists in the immediate future,” the government agency said in a statement released Thursday.
Based on intelligence collected by the bureau, terrorists belonging to global Jihad organizations and Palestinian terror groups plan to kill or abduct Israeli tourists and will target beaches and resorts known to be favored by them.
The travel warning instructed Israelis planning to travel to Sinai not to go — and called on families to make immediate contact with relatives who are currently there to try to bring them back to Israel.
According to Channel 2 News, there are currently several hundred Israelis vacationing in the Sinai, most of them Arab Israelis.
Israel has issued travel advisories for Sinai before. But the security warnings and travel notices have increased since Hosni Mubarak was toppled in 2011 and amid rising lawlessness among Bedouin tribes.