Egypt critical of Israel\'s warnings re Sinai

The governor of South Sinai, General Khalid Fouda, said that Israel's warnings issued Saturday, asking its citizens to leave Sinai immediately amid terror fears are merely  "rumours"  which he claims the Jewish state issue every now and then, especially when tourism is revived in the resort area 550 kilometres from Cairo, famous for its coral reefs. Egyptian newspaper "Al Ahram" in its Sunday edition reported Fouda as saying: "the warnings by Israel will not affect tourism. The arrival and departure of Israeli tourists is normal. Moreover, Taba border crossing yesterday received more than 1700 tourists from Israel and about the same number left." The counter-terrorism unit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office had issued an urgent statement urging Israelis not to travel to Sinai and to leave the area immediately.  It also asked from Israeli families to communicate with their relatives in Sinai and inform them of this warning. The occupation army radio said that Palestinian factions in Gaza ordered activists in the Sinai Peninsula to make intensive efforts to kidnap Israelis and exchange them with Palestinian prisoners. The radio broadcast  said that the Israeli Defence Force informed Egypt about intelligence received that Palestinian factions and their Sinai Bedouin supporters together with extremists planned to carry out the abductions to precipitate Palestinian prisoner exchanges and that Hamas and Gaza Palestinian  factions would be held accountable for harm caused to any Israeli citizen.