A typical clay jar from Egypt. Photo: Wikipedia.

Israel has returned over 90 stolen artifacts to Egypt after Cairo asked authorities in Jerusalem to stop an auction from selling them.

Ali Ahmed, director-general of the Repatriation of Antiquities Department at the Egyptian ministry, told Ahram Online the objects were first noticed during a routine internet search of international auction halls.

According to Egyptian authorities, a letter was then sent to the Israeli Foreign Ministry asking them to act in collaboration with the Egyptian embassy in Jerusalem to stop the sale of the artifacts, which they agreed to after discovering that the auctioneer didn’t have the necessary documents to prove ownership.

Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said on Saturday only 90 of 110 artifacts were recovered by the Israeli authorities. The remaining 20 were sold and Egypt has asked Israel to track them down.

The Egyptian antiquities ministry said the artifacts included clay vessels, vases, ushabti figurines and stelae.