An Egyptian policeman accused of killing three Israeli soldiers in an attack on the countries’ shared border on Saturday morning has been named as 22-year-old Mohamed Salah Ibrahim.
Arabic-language media reported that Ibrahim was drafted into the Egyptian army in June 2022 and stationed on the border with Israel as a policeman.
He was reportedly set to end his service soon.
Yitzhak Iluz, 20, Ohad Dahan, 20, and Ben Nun, 19, were killed on Saturday and buried in military cemeteries on Sunday.
Israel’s Kan public broadcaster said Ibrahim had complained several times about his military service, and had been absent without leave for 18 days at one point.
Ibrahim had reportedly suffered from mental health problems following the death of a comrade and felt the issue had not been taken seriously.
Ibrahim is believed to have acted alone in the deadly attack on Saturday.
Egypt has sought to distance itself from the incident, with officials saying they had been unaware of Ibrahim’s intentions.
The IDF and Egyptian military are jointly probing the attacker’s motives.
After his death in a gunfight with IDF soldiers, Ibrahim was found to be carrying a Quran, 2 combat knives and 6 assault rifle magazines.