The body of an Egyptian policeman who killed three Israeli soldiers on Saturday near their shared border has been returned to Egypt by Israel.
The police officer was identified as Mohammed Salah, 22.
Egypt claimed following the incident that the man had entered Israel while pursuing drug traffickers, which caused an exchange of gunfire with the Israeli soldiers. .
Israel's prime minister, however, claimed that it was a terrorist attack and called for a comprehensive joint investigation.
Salah was not an extremist, a relative and a fellow soldier of his told the BBC.
The Israeli military claims that two Israeli soldiers, Staff Sgt. Uri Iluz, 20, and Sgt. Lia Ben-Nun, 19, who were stationed in a remote area along the border, were killed by gunfire early on Saturday morning. After a senior officer was unable to communicate with them over the radio, their bodies were found.
After a search operation, the attacker was surrounded, and a shootout ensued. Along with the attacker, who the Israeli military identified as an Egyptian policeman, Staff Sgt. Ohad Dahan, 20, was also killed.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, stated during a cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israel had sent the Egyptian government a clear message. We anticipate that the joint investigation will be in-depth and exhaustive. ".
In order to keep smuggling to a minimum and guarantee that tragic terrorist attacks like this one don't occur again, we will update our operational procedures and methods. ".
The policeman entered Israel through a closed emergency gate in the border fence, which was several hundred meters away from Staff Sgt. Iluz and Sgt. Ben-Nun's guard post, according to a preliminary investigation, which was reported in Israeli media.
The policeman was also found to be carrying two combat knives, a Quran, and six magazines for his rifle by Israeli soldiers after he was killed, they added.
According to the reports, Egyptian officials reportedly disclosed to their Israeli counterparts during meetings that the attacker was a "rogue" officer who took independent action after becoming radicalized.
According to a relative of Mohammed Salah and a member of his unit, members of this family and friends were being detained for questioning by investigators on Monday, according to BBC News Arabic. Egyptian authorities have not responded to the reports or confirmed the identity of the policeman, however.
Salah's relative denied that he had become radicalized and suggested that he may have wished to exact revenge for the death of a fellow soldier.
They claimed that Salah had expressed his irate over "the silence over the killing of one of his military friends by Israeli soldiers during his military service at the border" during a leave period last month. They continued, saying that he had also complained about the military's denial of a medical exemption request.
The alleged incident to which the relative was alluding is unknown.
