Three Egyptian soldiers have been killed by an Israeli tank crew on the border between occupied Gaza and Egypt. Aljazeera's correspondent in Ramallah reported on Thursday that all three soldiers had been on their side of the border near the Rafah border crossing. Walid al-Umari also reported that Tel Aviv had accepted the possibility that an Israeli tank mistakenly fired a shell into Egypt, but was as yet unwilling to make a statement before an investigation. Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim called it a "regretful incident with terrible results" on Israel Radio but qualified his remarks later in the interview. "We must remember the area in which the incident took place, the border area between us and Egypt ... is a very tense area and is constantly subject to fighting," Boim added. **Egyptian reaction*** Aljazeera's correspondent in Cairo reports that the Egyptian army has confirmed that three members of a six-member border patrol died when a tank shell was fired at 3:15am (01:15 GMT). Husain Abd al-Ghani added that the tank was less than 20 metres away from the patrol when it opened fire and that all six men were in Egyptian army uniforms. "The Egyptian Foreign Ministry has demanded an explanation and underlined the fact that the incident represents a grave violation of Egyptian-Israeli peace agreements." But Eitan Arusi, an Israeli army spokesman, told Aljazeera that the tank shell had been aimed at a "three member Palestinian cell" but it "unfortunately missed". "The Egyptian-Israeli borderline is a very narrow and small route. There is a distance of only 10 meters between the two sides," he added. He also confirmed that an investigation had already begun and suggested that an official Israeli apology would be issued in time. **Straining relations*** The attack came just hours after the Israeli army, citing a surge in deadly operational mishaps, had scheduled a two-hour break in all training later on Thursday to discuss ways to prevent accidents and reduce negligence in soldiers' performance. Egypt is one of only two Arab states to have a peace treaty with Israel, the other being Jordan. Relations between the two countries have been chilly since the outbreak of the al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000, with Egypt accusing Israel of heavy-handed military tactics in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Cairo has recently indicated a willingness to help the Palestinian Authority maintain order in Gaza once Israel carries out a unilateral plan to withdraw troops and vacate all illegal settlements from the coastal territory by the end of 2005. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Israeli soldiers inspect their tanks on the outskirts of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. (AFP)