Gas flow unhindered: Israel on reports of attack on Egypt pipeline

Israeli officials on Sunday (local time) denied media reports claiming that a pipeline that carries natural gas from the country to Egypt has been attacked and damaged in northern Sinai by unknown gunmen.

"At the moment, the natural gas is flowing from Israel through the pipeline and reaching Egypt," Times of Israel quoted the office of Israel's energy minister, Yuval Steinitz, as saying in a statement.

"The ministry looked into the reported explosion, such as it was, in coordination with all relevant authorities," the statement read without explicitly ruling out an explosion.

This comes after media reports said the attack against Egypt-Israel pipeline took place in Egypt's Bir Al-Abd, located in the northern Sinai area.

The Times of Israel quoted another statement from Israel's Leviathan gas field, which supplies the gas to the pipeline, as saying: "There has not been any damage to the EMG pipeline connecting Israel and Egypt. The flow of gas from Leviathan to Egypt is continuing as normal."

According to the Times of Israel, the development comes weeks after Israel started pumping natural gas to Egypt from two massive offshore fields.