Egypt cuts off gas to Israel

Egypt’s partly state-owned Natural Gas Holding company confirmed late Sunday night that it stopped delivering gas to Israel last Thursday.

AFP/STR

The decision, which some Israelis claim is a breach of the peace deal between the two states, is yet to be approved by Egypt's military rulers .

As Egyptian authorities declined to give an official reason for the cancellation of the deal with conflict as to who actually took the decision, the Israeli media drew a connection to a lawsuit for six billion euros for the Egyptian companies’ failure to provide gas.

Egyptian news sources cited allegations that Israel has not paid for gas in some months.

Gas prices in Israel are not expected to spike, as a recent price increase was designed to pre-empt undelivered gas from Egypt.

The pipeline has suffered repeated bombing attacks since the Egyptian uprising last year which has affected its supply.

Israel is demanding that the US, the broker of the initial deal, intervene to prevent its termination.

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that the cut-off is a business matter unrelated to politics, Israel's Military Chief of Staff said during a radio interview on Monday morning that Israeli troops are ready for a military confrontation if relations with Egypt have soured.