Israel returns trafficked artifacts to Egypt
Israel returned dozens of looted archaeological pieces to Egypt in a new sign of improving relations between the two countries in recent years.
Egypt received 95 looted archaeological artifacts from Israel in the first such public move by Tel Aviv to return ancient items to Cairo. The pieces were transferred to Egypt by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid during his meeting on Dec. 9 with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry.
A statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Shoukry thanked the Israeli government for its cooperation in returning the ancient pieces to Egypt.
The returned artifacts include two stone tablets with hieroglyphic writing, a piece of a sarcophagus with hieroglyphics, papyrus documents and dozens of small idols of Egyptian gods.
Four of the items were confiscated by Israeli authorities in 2013 from an antiquities dealer who smuggled them from Oxford, England. The other pieces were seized from a Jerusalem antiquities showroom in a raid in the same year.
