Egyptian hotel worker killed in fight with Arab-Israelis in Taba border town

Altercation over unpaid restaurant bills turned violent

The Saladin castle in the Red Sea resort town of Taba, 450 kilometres east of Cairo in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. EPA

An Egyptian was killed in a fight that broke out between hotel workers and a group of Israeli tourists in the Egyptian town of Taba on the border with Israel, police officials said on Saturday.

The fight started on Friday afternoon in the hotel's main restaurant when the victim argued with the Israelis over unpaid bills. The restaurant's cutlery was used as weapons, leaving three of the Israeli guests and three Egyptian hotel workers wounded, officials said.

The hotel employee died of his injuries soon after he was taken to a hospital in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El Sheikh, about 200km to the south of Taba. The resort town at the northern tip of the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba is popular with Israeli tourists.

There has been no official statement from Egyptian authorities.

The incident comes at a time when relations between Egypt and Israel are strained over the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Israel and Gaza border Egypt. Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty 45 years ago.