Egyptian authorities accuse the Muslim Brotherhood-linked group for the Sunday attack, which killed 20 • Netanyahu: “We stand by the Egyptian people in their battle against terrorism.”
(August 6, 2019 / JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday offered his condolences to the families of the 20 people killed in a terrorist attack outside a downtown Cairo cancer hospital on Sunday night, condemning the attack and expressing Israel’s solidarity with Egypt.
“We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the innocent victims, and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” Netanyahu said in an English-language statement. “We stand by the Egyptian people in their battle against terrorism.”
Initial reports said the incident was caused by a multi-car accident, but Egypt’s Interior Ministry later revealed that a car packed with explosives had plowed into other vehicles on Corniche Boulevard along the Nile River, igniting other cars and wounding at least 47 people. Egypt’s main cancer hospital was damaged in the attack, with dozens of patients evacuated after parts of the facade and some rooms were damaged.
It was the deadliest attack in Cairo since the Islamic State group bombed at a chapel next to the main Egyptian Coptic Christian cathedral in December 2016 during Sunday Mass, killing 30 people.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry has accused Hasm, a group linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, with the attack, though it indicated that the bomb-laden car was actually in transit to its true target when it detonated.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi vowed to “face and root out terrorism,” and expressed his condolences to the families.