Israel has agreed to let Egypt deploy hundreds more troops in Sinai in order to protect gas pipelines as the country undergoes sweeping political unrest, Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear how many more troops would be permitted into the Sinai Peninsula, where the number of Egyptian forces is limited by the terms of the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty.
The move, which comes just days after the overthrow of autocratic Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, was rubber stamped several days ago in response to a request from Cairo's new military regime.
Neither the defense ministry nor the prime minister's office would confirm the report, which said the troops would be stationed in Sinai for a limited period of time "until the situation on the ground calms down."
This move comes 11 days after an Egyptian gas pipeline to Jordan in northern Sinai was attacked, forcing Cairo to switch off gas supplies to the kingdom as well as to Israel, which is supplied via a twin pipeline.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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