A Canadian citizen of Israeli descent was murdered in Alexandria, Egypt on Tuesday, with a militant group taking responsibility for the killing, claiming it was in response to the war in Gaza.
Initially, an Egyptian security source told Reuters that the man was killed “with the motive of robbery” and no connection was made between the murder and the victim’s ethnicity.
However, a message posted on Telegram by a group called “Vanguards of Liberation,” previously unknown to authorities, claimed responsibility for the murder.
The message said the killing was a reaction to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and its recent decision to seize control of Rafah, wherein the IDF crossed Egypt’s border with the enclave.
The group named the victim as Ziv Kipper and accused him of being affiliated with Israeli intelligence.
According to a statement from SITE Intelligence, the group said the unit responsible for the murder was named after Mohamed Salah Ibrahim, an Egyptian policeman who killed three Israeli soldiers before being killed himself near the border between Egypt and Israel in June 2023.
The group’s post included a photo that appeared to be Kipper being shot in his car.
Egyptian security sources cannot confirm with certainty that the group is responsible for the incident, saying that they had not previously been aware of their existence.
The shooting occurred late Tuesday evening while Israeli forces seized the main border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in Rafah.
Some of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel were also Canadian.
