An Israeli fisherman from Eilat died Sunday of wounds suffered when an Egyptian naval craft opened fire on his boat in the Gulf of Eilat.
Israeli and Egyptian authorities have given conflicting versions of the incident, and Israel is expected to lodge a strong protest with Cairo.
The victim, Shlomo Yisraeli, 42, was sailing with his son Rami and friends when he was intercepted by the Egyptian naval vessel and ordered to stop.
After he refused, the Egyptians reportedly fired into the air and then at the boat, hitting Yisraeli in the leg.
Israel has taken a very serious view of the incident, which it says was an unprovoked attack.
The Egyptians insist Yisraeli’s boat violated their territorial waters by navigating near a coral island a few hundred yards off the Sinai shore.
Yisraeli and his companions maintained they were attacked in international waters.
When the Egyptians tried to take their boat in tow, they refused the line and sped off to Eilat where the wounded man was hospitalized.
After 12 hours of surgery, his condition worsened rapidly and he died early Sunday afternoon.
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