Sinai Peninsula along Egypt Israel border. Photo: wiki commons.

Three Egyptian soldiers were killed by masked Hamas terrorists on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, Egypt’s Al-Hayat newspaper and Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported Tuesday.

Al-Hayat reported that dozens of militants from Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, attacked Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai under orders from the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo. Some 150 Hamas operatives were arrested by Egyptian security forces and will be charged with terrorism.

An Egyptian army spokesman said the attacks came as the Egyptian military was closing 50 tunnels to block rocket and weapons smuggling and militants coming from Gaza.