A high-level Egyptian security source has denied reports of shootings on the border with Israel late on Monday, amid escalating tension between the two countries as the war on the neighbouring Palestinian Gaza Strip approaches the one-year mark. The source told Cairo-based Al-Qahera news satellite TV channel that the reported incident took place on Israel’s side of the Negev desert involving an exchange of fire between Israeli border guards and a group of smugglers. The Negev desert (also spelt Naqab) borders Jordan to the east and Egypt’s Sinai desert to the west. The Egyptian source, who spo…