Egyptian and Israeli generals signed here on Thursday an agreement on deploying 750 lightly armed Egyptian troops along the Egyptian-Gaza border to enable Israeli troops to pull out from the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian security source said.

Earlier in the day, Israeli defense officials revealed that Egypt will begin deploying troops on the Gaza border on Sunday.

The Israeli Knesset (parliament) approved the deal Wednesday by a 53-28 vote.

After the completion of evacuation of Jewish settlements in Gaza last week, Israel said it could withdraw military installations in the area in late September.

Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman assured Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday night that no weapons were smuggled from Egypt into Gaza after Israeli army quit the occupied territory.

But he rejected an Israeli proposal to relocate the border crossing from the Rafah area farther southeast to a point where the Egyptian-Gaza-Israeli borders meet to allow Israel to inspect movements into Gaza.

Source: Xinhua